What future for aid and development? With Minouche Shafik

This podcast interviews Minouche Shafik, an expert in development economics, about the future of global aid. The conversation begins with Shafik's pessimistic outlook (1/10 likelihood of a return to the optimistic aid environment of the 2000s) and explores the reasons behind declining aid budgets in traditional donor countries (fiscal pressures and backlash against globalization). Shafik criticizes the merging of UK's DFID into the Foreign Office and the trend of redefining aid to include domestic spending. The discussion also covers the changing role of aid, the rise of China as a major aid provider, and the need for better debt restructuring mechanisms for developing countries. Finally, Shafik advocates for prioritizing early childhood development as a key policy change to improve global outcomes.