Institute of Development Studies

Research Themes

Our research is concerned with sustainable economic growth and private sector development in developing countries in a rapidly changing global context. The team's work examines transformation and globalisation processes themselves and how these processes can be influenced. Harnessing globalisation and the private sector to the goals of income growth and sustainability is the central objective of the team. To this end, the team carries out research and advisory work at the global, national and local level.

Global economic integration

Global economic integration involves interactions between public and private actors in global, national and sub-national spaces. The team has analysed trends in global trade and regionalisation of the global economy using quantitative analysis and economic modelling to understand the impacts of policy changes. It has studied how new inter-firm linkages in the global economy have facilitated outsourcing and offshoring. It has examined the ways in which public actors interact with private actors to facilitate or obstruct investment. This work includes:

• Trade
• Public action and private investment (Future State website)
• Clusters and Value Chains

Global restructuring

The global economy is changing rapidly. The two significant changes studied by the team are the increasing importance of the emerging economies and a shift of innovation activities to these economies. Work on the emerging economies has focused particularly on China, including its fast-changing relationships with African countries. Global shifts in innovation power have been examined in research on the software sector in India and the automobile sector in Brazil and includes a new line of research on the branding strategies of Chinese firms. This work includes:

• Innovation 
• Asian Drivers

Crisis as usual or opportunity for different growth paths?

The financial crisis has highlighted new challenges for the global economy and international politics. The team has carried out work on the global financial crisis and its consequences for trade and the developing countries. It is applying its methodological approaches to new challenges, including macroeconomics of climate change adaptation in Africa and the impact of the financial crisis and the new powers on European development cooperation. This work includes:

• Financial Crisis
• Climate Change

Across each of these three, interrelated lines of work, the team maintains a focus on economic growth and private sector development. It analyses the interaction between public and private sector actors at multiple levels in the global economy. This is reflected directly in work on the alignments and conflicts of interest between government and business, in work on business strategies in global value chains, through the analysis of a wide range of business actors from the multinational lead firms of global value chains to the home producers in the informal economy. Particular attention is paid to the rise of new, significant business actors in the global economy, such as innovative companies in China and India and Chinese private sector firms in Africa.