Development Futures

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UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Welcome to Development Futures – a podcast brought to you by the Indo-Pacific Development Centre at the Lowy Institute. In this podcast, our researchers and some of the world’s leading experts discuss fresh policy insights and ideas on the most pressing development issues in the world today.

AUG 19

Development Futures: Climate change and the great procrastination

The Institute’s Dr Melanie Pill speaks with Professor Thomas Hale, author of Long Problems: Climate change and the challenge of governing across time, about the difficulty of addressing issues, like climate change, that have such distant consequences. They discuss the barriers to addressing and governing long problems, how to build stronger institutions, and how international negotiations and agreements can be better structured to address climate change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

27 min
AUG 5

Development Futures: The 2025 Southeast Asia Aid Map and global aid cuts

As global donors retreat from development finance, Southeast Asia stands to lose billions of dollars in critical support. In this episode, we launch the Lowy Institute’s 2025 Southeast Asia Aid Map and unpack what the wave of US, UK and European aid cuts mean for the region. Roland Rajah, Director of the Institute’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre, is joined by the Map’s lead authors Alexandre Dayant and Grace Stanhope, and Southeast Asia Program Director Susannah Patton, to discuss the risks, regional responses, and how Australia can step up. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24 min
JUN 10

Development Futures: Indonesia’s economic policies under Prabowo — new era or same path?

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto campaigned on a promise of continuity and better economic performance. Is Prabowo living up to his campaign promises or taking the country in a new direction? The Lowy Institute's Lead Economist, Roland Rajah, speaks with Dr Eve Warburton, Director of the Australian National University's Indonesia Institute, and Indo-Pacific Development Centre Research Fellows Dr Hilman Palaon and Robert Walker to unpack what’s happening and the looming questions over policy, politics, and populism in Prabowo’s Indonesia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

30 min
MAY 13

Lowy Institute Re-Cast — Development Futures: The world’s addiction to GDP

The Lowy Institute Re-Cast series republishes the best podcasts from our archives. In case you missed them the first time around or if you want revisit these engaging conversations, the Re-Cast series has you covered. Can we measure national success beyond economic growth? In August 2024, Professor Robert Costanza spoke with the Lowy Institute’s Alexandre Dayant about why countries need to move away from gross domestic product as the measure of economic prosperity and factor in other complementary gauges of success. In a time of high inflation, increased cost of living, and growing environmental degradation, Professor Constanza argues that moving “beyond growth” is essential to achieving sustainable prosperity. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

31 min
MAR 20

Development Futures: Trump’s tariffs and the rest of us

Donald Trump has moved quickly to impose tariffs on literally every country in the world. Trump’s tariffs against Australia are not only affecting matters of trade; they potentially infringe Australian sovereignty. The Lowy Institute’s Lead Economist Roland Rajah sits down with Dr Jenny Gordon, Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow and Honorary Professor at the Australian National University, to discuss the economics and peculiar logic behind Trump’s tariff plans, what it means for smaller countries like Australia, and how they should respond. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

25 min
FEB 12

Development Futures: Aid in Shambles: The dismantling of USAID

The Trump administration is taking an axe to the world’s biggest foreign aid program, dismantling its US Agency for International Development and freezing billions of dollars in foreign assistance. The Lowy Institute’s Lead Economist Roland Rajah is joined by Deputy Director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre, Alexandre Dayant, and Research Associate, Grace Stanhope, to dive into what’s happening, the rationale, and the implications for American soft power and the rest of the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24 min
FEB 4

Development Futures: The big picture of aid and international development

The Trump administration’s recent dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and freeze on most US foreign aid has created havoc within the international aid and development sectors. Prior to these major announcements, the Lowy Institute’s Lead Economist Roland Rajah spoke with Masood Ahmed, President Emeritus of the Center for Global Development, in December last year. They discussed the effectiveness and future of aid and the factors reshaping international development cooperation including climate change, pandemic risks, migration, and domestic politics in donor countries. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

26 min
JAN 6

Lowy Institute Re-Cast: Development Futures: Dani Rodrik on hyper-globalisation, geopolitics and the future of development

As part of the Lowy Institute Re-Cast series, we are republishing the best podcasts of 2024. In case you missed them the first time around or if you want revisit these engaging conversations, the Re-Cast series has you covered. As we usher in the new year, the global economy is at a turning point. From confronting an economic development crisis and addressing the good-jobs dilemma, to navigating the climate transition and charting a course towards a more sustainable and equitable form of globalisation, 2024 promises to be an interesting year. In this episode of Development Futures, Alexandre Dayant, the Deputy Director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre, talks with Harvard professor and economist Dani Rodrik about the challenges of globalisation and the intensification of geopolitics on the global economy. They discuss the role of redistributive domestic policies, the impact of US–China competition on the delivery of global public goods, and the risk of breakdown of the multilateral trade system. These are just a few of the topics covered in this wide-ranging conversation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

38 min

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Welcome to Development Futures – a podcast brought to you by the Indo-Pacific Development Centre at the Lowy Institute. In this podcast, our researchers and some of the world’s leading experts discuss fresh policy insights and ideas on the most pressing development issues in the world today.