Development Research Group

Amidst slower global growth, a shifting labor market, and rising protectionism, governments around the world are increasingly turning to a once controversial policy. 

This report offers the first comprehensive guide to industrial policy for development in the 21st century. On June 2, report coauthors Ana Margarida Fernandes and Tristan Reed will provide a deep dive into the reports core findings, including how governments target industries, the trade‑offs involved, and how industrial policy can be aligned with objectives such as job creation, export growth, pollution reduction, and economic resilience.

In the 1940s, Joseph Schumpeter famously described economic growth as “creative destruction." But viewed through a wider development lens, creative destruction is not limited to firms or technologies. It unfolds across nearly every sector as a complex and often wrenching social process that reshapes issues ranging from identities and community cohesion to life aspirations and state-society relations. Policy and practice must anticipate how the destructive aspects of this process can best be addressed, especially for the poorest and politically weakest citizens.

In this Policy Research Talk, Lead Social Scientist Michael Woolcock will discuss how evidence on state capability, community-driven development, and contentious change processes can inform sound, supportable, and implementable strategies.

This annual conference brings together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss cutting-edge research on public finance of relevance for low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs). The event primarily focuses on research related to L&MICs but also welcomes relevant studies from high-income contexts. Submissions across all areas of public finance are welcome.

Taking place in Washington, DC on September 24-25, 2026, the event will feature Nathaniel Hendren, Professor of Economics at MIT and Founder/Co-Director at Policy Impacts, as the keynote speaker. 

The 2026 World Bank Land and Property Research Conference brought together researchers and practitioners from April 29 to May 1 at World Bank Headquarters in Washington, DC. 

The conference explored the latest research on land governance, land markets, and institutions, with a focus on economic growth, structural transformation, job creation, and poverty reduction. The program also featured two special plenaries: a keynote by Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu on land, labor, and economic development, and a session on the World Bank’s B-READY land indicators.