Economic growth research

Economic growth is responsible for up to 80% of poverty reduction, but there are significant gaps in our understanding of how best to stimulate growth in the poorest countries. Our programme therefore seeks to generate high quality evidence on economic growth in poor countries, and to get that evidence into use by decision makers in those countries, in order to promote sustainable economic development.

Our research focuses on: supporting businesses to establish themselves, innovate and grow; enabling labour markets to deliver more jobs, that are better quality and higher paid; raising agricultural and business productivity; strengthening financial markets; delivering more cost-effective transport infrastructures; and developing taxation to raise revenue and enhance government accountability.

Some of our current work includes:

Private enterprise development: Our programme with the Centre for Economic Policy Research aims to answer questions about: constraints on enterprise growth; firm productivity; the dynamics of small and medium enterprises; the informal sector; the role of export-oriented industries in driving growth; and how private sector development can help reduce conflict.
Jobs, skills and growth: Our project with the Institute for the Study of Labour aims to understand what contributes to creating better jobs in poor countries; how to protect workers while at the same time creating jobs; how to support small enterprises; what types of skills are associated with innovation and productivity growth; and how to effectively support women’s participation in labour markets.
Agriculture: we are working with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) on agricultural productivity and how this contributes to wider economic growth that benefits poor people;
Firm productivity: we are funding a series of country case studies on innovation, and working with the World Bank and ESRC to improve the understanding of how to enhance business productivity in low income countries;
Financial sector: we are working with ESRC and others to improve the understanding of how better regulation of the financial sector can stimulate growth in low income countries.
Transport: research under our Africa Community Access Programme contributes to the improved provision and maintenance of over 200,000 km of rural roads in Africa. This is saving money for African governments through promoting the use of low-cost, local technologies and labour.