The Dark Side of Development
David R. Whitehouse, Mila Agius"If you aren't already, you really should be checking out David Whitehouse's excellent Substack which picks apart exactly what is going wrong with international development.” - King's College London, School of Global Affairs
| Platform |  | Pricing | Freemium | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 156 | Founded | 4 years ago | Last Issue | 7 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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drdavidwhitehouse.substack.comLatest Issues
The loneliness of the long-distance microfinance loan officer
Regwrap: Kenya Stichting Rabobank; OECD DAC review; ECB-Brazil Pix; AI Payments
A recent EBRD study funded by the Gates Foundation highlights the absurdity of trying to sell microcredit to people who on the whole don’t want it.[1]
The Dark Side of Development Recommended by King’s College London
The development industry needs critique but has no incentive to provide it.
Organisational incentives and funding arrangements favour the replication of established interventions over rigorous assessment of their failures.
Policies such a...
Waste to Value : A Circular Future
(Source: India Briefing)
The Dark Side of Development is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
India’s waste crisis has transitioned from an awaiting concern...
RegWrap: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile: the growing pains of household debt regulation
Argentinians were not ‘financially excluded’ when personal debt exploded
Image: Wikimedia Commons.
European Investment Bank backs WFP climate risk insurance in Ethiopia
RegWrap: IFC/Cambodia, India AI payments, Mystery shopping in Zambia; Ghana deadline: West Africa PSPs
Microfinance in the twenty-first century has been dominated by the provision of expensive debt,
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Journalist, author, historian (PhD). Former Bloomberg editor of 17 years, then 6 years at The Africa Report. Contributor to The Banker (FT) and Devex. Microfinance, fintech regulation in developing countries. Weekly updates.
Behavioural psychologist, 10+ years in fintech, and author of Fintech Novel 2040. My work explores what makes communities durable — how trust, belonging, incentives and shared memory turn audiences into systems that survive change.
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