Education for all, occupational choice and business formation in Africa

Wheeler Institute

Elias Papaioannou, Professor of Economics at LBS, with his colleagues, Stelios Michalopoulos, Eastman Professor of Political Economy at Brown University and Torsten Figueiredo Walter, Assistant Professor of Economics at New York University Abu Dhabi is examining the success of school expenditure in terms of economic payoff in post-independence Africa. In a conversation with MBA2021 LBS Africa Club President, Themba Muchaneta, Professor Papaioannou expounds on the objectives of his research and discusses some of the preliminary findings. His research was awarded funding from the Wheeler Institute during our biannual call for proposals.

COVID-19: A beacon for international solidarity

1 CommentCommunities, Past Events, Rethinking Capitalism, Thought-leadership,

How will developing economies rebound from the effects of COVID-19? As an unparalleled global pandemic, what evidence can we look to for guidance on this issue? Professors Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee – who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty – discuss findings from their…

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The power of purposeful business

5 CommentsCollaborations, Past Events, Thought-leadership,

How can companies prioritize purpose while balancing their responsibility to shareholders? This dilemma is heightened considering some of the world’s most serious challenges exist in developing countries where solutions are unlikely to be profitable in the short term. Is the trade-off between purpose and profit necessary, or is it possible for companies to achieve both?…

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Wheeler Institute project team collaborates with Dharma Life to transform their model in response to COVID-19

Applied research, Collaborations, COVID-19 series, Geography, Ongoing projects,

You can see the last time we posted about this project was announcing the project here. COVID-19 has affected many people in many ways in 2020. Geric and I are very lucky that the biggest personal impact has been that our post MBA employment was delayed by six months. When this happened in May, I…

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Dharma Life’s Pivot: How a social enterprise is empowering women entrepreneurs and transforming its model in response to COVID-19

Collaborations, COVID-19 series, Geography,

COVID-19 poses an immense threat to the people of rural India. This is the case both immediately as a health and wellbeing concern and in the longer term as development issues fail to progress due to a shift in focus and funding. Approximately 400 million people working in the informal economy in India are at risk of falling deeper into poverty due to this crisis. This devastating impact on livelihood could take the lives of more Indians than the disease itself.