Institute of Development Studies

Crisis Watch

Who we are:

Crisis Watch is a global network of researchers and practitioners with a shared interest in monitoring the on-the-ground impacts of the financial crisis.

What we do:

The Crisis Watch pages brings together:

• up-to-date and cutting edge research on the impacts of the financial crisis on the ground in developing countries
• details and outputs of past and present projects that have examined crisis impacts
• publications relating to specific areas of crisis impacts
• links to other sources of information relating to the crisis
• information on crisis related events

Complex Crises Workshop 2010

Crisis Watch convened a two-day workshop to critically evaluate the state of knowledge of the impacts of recent economic shocks on livelihoods and wellbeing across the world. Outputs from the event, including presentations, workshop reports and short films can be found here.

Crisis News

24 Mar 10 Complex Crises: The challenge of finding and sharing evidence



For the world’s poorest people the repercussions of 2008’s global financial crisis are just one of a recent series of severe and sustained shocks.





15 Feb 10 Crisis Watch Website launched

New website launched to support the Crisis Watch initiative.





There are no current Events

Lastest Crisis Publications

• McCulloch, N. and Grover, A. (2010) 'Estimating the National Impact of the Financial Crisis in Indonesia by Combining a Rapid Qualitative Study with Nationally Representative Surveys' , Brighton: IDS
• McCulloch, N. and Sumner, A. (2009) 'Will the Global Financial Crisis Change the Development Paradigm?', IDS Bulletin 40.5:101-108
• Gottschalk, G. and Bolton, L. (2009) 'Macroeconomic Policy, Stimuli, Aid and Budgeting: What Options?', IDS Bulletin 40.5:78-88
• McCulloch, N. and Sumner, A. (2009) 'Introduction: The Global Financial Crisis, Developing Countries and Policy Responses', IDS Bulletin 40.5:1-13
• Cook, S. and Gu, J. (2009) 'The Global Financial Crisis: Implications for China's South-South Cooperation', IDS Bulletin 40.5:38-46

Latest Crisis Updates
Blame the U.S. for the Housing Bubble, Not China (Commentary) | Cato Institute
In his New York Times Magazine column, Adam Davidson cited David Boaz of the Cato Institute as an economist who believes that easy money from China exacerbated the housing bubble in the U.S. In fact, Boaz places the blame much closer to home. His clarification is below. Adam Davidson's citation of me as someone who believes "that all that easy money from China helped make the housing bubble much bigger and last longer, which created a far bigger crisis when the bubble finally burst" took me by
An Advisory Paper for Group 8 and Group 20 Humanitarian Healthcare Diplomacy. Humanitarian Relief to Assist Sub-Saharan Nations with Drought Relief, by Dr Mark Fernando | VOX
An Advisory Paper for Group 8 and Group 20 Humanitarian Healthcare Diplomacy. Humanitarian Relief to assist Sub-Saharan Nations with Drought Relief. Development and the crisis
Global markets: what they are indicating? | VOX
The global markets are heading for an interesting time in 2012. We may notice, the indices experience heightened volatility within certain ranges. Open markets
Full employment and the global development agenda: going beyond lip service | VOX
Full employment and the global development agenda: going beyond lip service Development and the crisis
In post-quake Haiti, early childhood development aids recovery | UNICEF
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, 19 January 2012 – It might look like simple fun, but the dominos, colouring pencils, construction blocks, hand puppets, puzzle pieces and memory games in Jean Pierre’s school are about more than just a good time.
Social Cohesion – there’s a lot more to it than the OECD version | Oxfam
Fuzzword alert: the term ’social cohesion’ seems to be popping up across the development landscape like toadstools in autumn. The G20 prefers to talk about social cohesion rather than inequality; the World Bank is using it to discuss jobs in its forthcoming World Development Report, and the OECD recently published Perspectives on Global Development 2012: [...]
The Federal Reserve's Covert Bailout of Europe (Commentary) | Cato Institute
America's central bank, the Federal Reserve, is engaged in a bailout of European banks. Surprisingly, its operation is largely unnoticed here. The Fed is using what is termed a "temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangement" with the European Central Bank (ECB). There are similar arrangements with the central banks of Canada, England, Switzerland and Japan. Simply put, the Fed trades or "swaps" dollars for euros. The Fed is compensated by payment of an interest rate (currently 50 basis point
Northern winter, Southern spring + Gramsci rules: looking back on 2011 | Oxfam
Here’s my contribution to the flood of ‘2011 retrospective’ articles, published on the Guardian site today What you make of 2011 depends on your vantage point. The year’s events look completely different depending on whether you are sitting at the bottom or the top, in the old north or the old south. From the bottom, this was [...]
Contagion Risk: The ECB's last chance | VOX
  Development and the crisis
Why Sweden Should Stay Out of the EU Budget Pact (Commentary) | Cato Institute
They knew exactly what they wanted when they came to Brussels. German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to prevent the next crisis with the help of strict budgetary rules. French president Nicolas Sarkozy wanted to enable the next crisis by ensuring senseless lending. On the current crisis that is tearing Europe apart, however, neither had anything to say. Once again, EU leaders have come up with nothing more than a magnificent damp squib — for the second time in six weeks. At the previo