Accelerating Development: Ideas for Impact
World Bank Institute for Economic Development
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About This Podcast
An AI-powered, expert-led podcast on cutting-edge policy solutions for today’s biggest development challenges, direct from our global research network.
🌐 Listen to other languages: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/wbginstitute
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Recent Episodes
S1E39 Episode 38 The Next Growth Model: How East Asia Can Thrive in an AI-Driven World
Global private investment in generative AI reached $34 billion in 2024, while AI-related exports account for 34% of GDP in Malaysia and 32% in Viet Nam. Yet growth in East Asia and Pacific is…
S1E38 Episode 37 When One Shipping Route Stops: The Global Shock Behind Rising Prices and Slower Growth
What happens when a single shipping route that carries a large share of the world's energy supply suddenly stops functioning? In March 2026, global oil supply fell by an estimated 10 million barrels…
S1E37 Episode 36 The Return of Industrial Policy: What's Driving the Surge in Europe and Central Asia?
Europe and Central Asia has announced more than 2,600 industrial policies since 2009 — more than one new intervention every day for sixteen years. But have these policies actually delivered stronger…
S1E36 Episode 35 WDR2025 Mini Series: 3 How Do Standards Help Us Breathe Cleaner Air?
Ninety-nine percent of people worldwide breathe air that fails to meet safety standards. In this episode of the World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development mini series, we explore why…
S1E35 Episode 34 Can Standards Make—or Break—Firms and Services?
47% fewer fatalities—just by using a simple surgical checklist. In this second episode of the World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development (WDR25) mini series, we explore how standards…
S1E34 Episode 33 How Can Standards Unlock or Block Development?
Two hundred thousand euros—sometimes more than a firm’s entire annual revenue—just to meet international standards. In this third episode of the World Development Report 2025: Standards for…
S1E33 Episode 32 From Dialogue to Direction: AGORA 2025 on Rethinking Agriculture as a System in Africa
Africa imports $70–80 billion of food each year—even for products it could often produce competitively. This episode revisits dialogues held at AGORA 2025 to explore why. We examine a key shift:…
S1E32 Episode 31 From Dialogue to Direction: What AGORA 2025 Revealed About Africa’s Energy Future
Over 600 million people in Africa still lack access to electricity—but as discussions at AGORA 2025 made clear, access alone is no longer enough. This episode reflects on key conversations from the…
S1E31 Episode 30 The Jobs Reinvention in Europe and Central Asia
By 2050, Europe and Central Asia will lose 17 million workers from its workforce — yet productivity growth has been stalled since 2008. This episode unpacks the demographic cliff threatening the…
S1E30 Episode 29 From Bananas and Pineapples to iPhones: A New Framework for Industrial Policy
Low-income countries target an average of 13 industries in their development plans—compared with just 5 in high-income economies. Yet many lack the fiscal space for large subsidies. In this episode…
S1E29 Episode 28 Research Currents: Africa’s Energy – 1 When the Lights Stay Off
Over 90% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa live within reach of electricity infrastructure—yet many homes remain dark. Why? Because access depends on more than just building the grid. This episode, the…
S1E28 Episode 27 Monitoring, Managing, and Markets: Tools for Clean Air - 1 Monitoring
This episode is the first in the three-part series “Monitoring, Managing, and Markets: Tools for Clean Air.” Over 90% of the global population lives in places where air pollution exceeds safe…
S1E27 Episode 26 Unlocking Growth by Closing Gender Gaps: Insights from Women, Business and the Law 2026
Only 58% of women participate in the labor force vs. 76% of men—and no economy grants women the full set of legal rights measured today. In this episode, we unpack Women, Business and the Law 2026…
S1E25 Episode 25 One Apple, Fifteen Rules: How Agrifood Standards Shape Markets
Nearly 90% of global trade is affected by non-tariff measures. Exporters face an average of more than 15 distinct compliance requirements per shipment. What looks like a simple apple on a grocery…
S1E24 Episode 24 Rethinking Growth: How Investing in Education Lifted the World’s Poorest
45% of global growth. Nearly 60% of income gains for the poorest. 📊 What if education has been one of the most powerful forces reshaping the global economy? This episode explores new evidence from…
S1E23 Episode 23 Can Frontier Markets Deliver Jobs in Time for the World’s Next 2.6 Billion People?
1.8 billion people today—and 2.6 billion by 2050. Frontier Market Economies are countries that sit between low-income and emerging markets: more developed than the poorest economies, with some access…
S1E22 Episode 22 Resilient on the Surface, Fragile Underneath: Inside the Global Growth Downshift
Global growth looks resilient—but is it? In 2025, global GDP grew 2.7%, yet 1 in 4 developing countries is poorer than before the pandemic. This episode looks beyond the headlines to uncover a…
S1E21 Episode 21 Sixty Dollars a Barrel: Turning a Global Oversupply into a Policy Opportunity
$60 a barrel. A 2.7 million-barrel-per-day surplus. The global oil market is heading into one of its biggest oversupply moments outside major crises. This episode unpacks what falling energy prices…
S1E20 Episode 20 The Power of Standards: Why a Metal Box, a Checklist, and a Plug Socket Can Change an Economy
📦 A metal box boosted trade by 1,240%. 🩺 A simple checklist cut surgical deaths by 47%. 🔌 A plug that fits a socket keeps economies running. This episode unpacks the World Development Report 2025’s…
S1E19 Episode 19 One Reform Won’t Do It: The Surprising Power of Policy Packages to Spark Growth
Investment accelerations can lift output growth to nearly 6% a year and cut poverty rates by 0.5 percentage points annually—but they’ve become far rarer. This episode uncovers why single reforms no…
Frequently Asked Questions
Accelerating Development: Ideas for Impact has published 49 episodes since April 2025, covering topics in Education, Government.
Accelerating Development: Ideas for Impact is currently highly active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 11m.
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