Identifier
1128
Document Type
Discussion Paper
Date of Paper
3-2026
Abstract
Since the late 1980s, extreme poverty has declined sharply, life expectancy and schooling have increased, and electoral democracy has expanded. However poverty reduction has slowed in recent years, particularly following the COVID-19 pandemic, amid intensifying conflict, fragility, climate risks, democratic backsliding, and the erosion of global trends—including trade integration and geopolitical stability—that once supported growth. These dynamics raise three interrelated questions: what barriers impede further progress; where will future growth in lower-income countries come from; and how can growth be broadly shared. Taking stock of 15 chapters forthcoming in Volume 6 of the Handbook of Development Economics, we discuss how external conditions, state capacity and policy choices shape development; analyze the shifting growth drivers, including trade, technology and the rise of services; discuss persistent inequality and distributional tensions; and conjecture that investing in institutions and people pays off.
Acknowledgements
This paper was written as the Introduction to the Handbook of Development Economics, Volume 6. We thank Nils Enevoldsen for excellent research assistance, Greg Larson for invaluable writing support, and the Economic Growth Center at Yale University for financial support.
Recommended Citation
Pascaline Dupas, Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, and Rohini Pande. 2026. "The Changing Landscape of International Development: An Introduction." EGC DIscussion Paper 1128.