Senior Fellow
Email: CGD Alumni
Education: PhD, Harvard University; MPP, Harvard University; BS, Central Michigan University
Steve Radelet was a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development from 2002 to 2010, where he worked on issues related to foreign aid, developing-country debt, economic growth, and trade between rich and poor countries. Most recently, Steve authored Emerging Africa: How 17 Countries are Leading the Way, a book that examines the positive growth in economic, political, and social policies taking place across Africa. His research and publications have focused on foreign aid, economic growth, financial crises, and trade policy in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia. While at CGD, Steve co-authored the working paper Counting Chickens When They Hatch: The Short-Term Effect of Aid Growth and authored Challenging Foreign Aid: A Policymaker’s Guide to the Millennium Challenge Account. Steven also served as an economic advisor to the Government of Liberia in its debt-reduction efforts and was a founding co-chair of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN).
Prior to his tenure at CGD, Stevn was deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Africa, the Middle East, and Asia from 2000 to 2002. In that capacity, he was responsible for developing policies on U.S. financial relations with the countries in these regions, including debt rescheduling and programs with the IMF, World Bank, and other international financial institutions. From 1990 to 2000 Steve was on the faculty of Harvard University, where he was a fellow at the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), director of the Institute's Macroeconomics Program, and a lecturer on economics and public policy. He has written numerous articles in economics journals and other publications and is co-author of Economics of Development, a leading undergraduate textbook.
Newest
Popular
CGD Publications
Events
Multimedia
Selected Works
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In 2008, the United States finished 17th in the Index. Did it do any better in 2009? How did the other wealthy countries fare? To find out, and to understand the data behind the rankings, watch the Webinar that took place on Oct. 20. The Webinar includes an overview of the Index and the 2009 results from CGD research fellow David Roodman. CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet, a former deputy assistant secretary of Treasury for Africa, the Middle East and Asia, will discuss the implications of the Index results for the ongoing debate over reforming U.S. development policy.
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Senior fellow Steve Radelet testifies before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health about the challenges and opportunities to reform U.S. foreign assistance to Africa.
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Senior fellow Steve Radelet testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on International Development, Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection.
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Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report, and a senior political analyst for CNN, David Gergen joined CGD president Nancy Birdsall, and CGD senior fellows who authored essays in our recent book, The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President, for a lively discussion of the prospects for improved U.S. development policy under President Barack Obama.
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The Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) has received wide praise for its innovative approaches to aid allocation and delivery but has not yet reached its full potential. Now, with the transition to a new administration, the MCC must take bold steps to achieve greater effectiveness, clarity of purpose, and integration with the broader U.S. foreign assistance framework. CGD analysts Sheila Herrling, Steve Radelet, and Molly Kinder offer timely suggestions, including introducing smaller, multiple compacts, reorienting the Threshold Program, and focusing exclusively on low-income countries.
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We will examine trends in economic growth and other development indicators around the world since 1965, with some reference to broad patterns since 1820.
We will briefly review the concepts underlying the standard Solow model of economic growth and other measures of development.
We will explore the relationship between growth, poverty, and equity.
We will examine the evolution of the developing-country debt crisis.
We will look at current controversies and debates about foreign Assistance.
We will examine the financial crises that affected several emerging markets in the late 1990s.
We will examine the relationships between trade, trade policy, and development.
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In this video from the December 9, 2008, event with USAID administrator Henrietta Fore, CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet talks with her about the past year she spent in office and her recommendations for the next administrator of USAID.
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Total U.S. development assistance has fallen 22 percent since 2005 from $27.9 billion to $21.8 billion in 2007. In real terms, this was the smallest amount since 2002, excluding assistance to Iraq, Afghanistan, and HIV/AIDS programs. Senior fellow Steve Radelet and his coauthors examine the decline, and ask whether President Bush's pledge to double assistance to Africa is likely to be realized or not.
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The MCA Monitor team presents its predictions for the MCC's selection of countries eligible to apply for funding in 2009. Steve Radelet and Amy Crone take a hard look at the tough choice the MCC has to make, and they offer suggestions to help the MCC to weather a tight budget and political transition, to increase transparency, and clarify criteria for Threshold Program elegibility.
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This ninth MCA Monitor Report from the Field is a snapshot-in-time of El Salvador’s program in the early phases of its implementation, during a year in which the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is under pressure to increase and accelerate disbursements, demonstrate tangible impacts, and substantiate the country-driven model as a viable alternative to traditional U.S. government foreign assistance. El Salvador’s experience highlights the challenges of balancing country ownership and oversight as well as managing procurement and expectations. The report suggests solutions to pressing questions related to country ownership, the consultative process, donor coordination, aid effectiveness, and transparency.
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The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President shows how modest changes in U.S. policies could greatly improve the lives of poor people in developing countries, thus fostering greater stability, security, and prosperity globally and at home. Center for Global Development experts offer fresh perspectives and practical advice on trade policy, migration, foreign aid, climate change and more. In an introductory essay, CGD President Nancy Birdsall explains why and how the next U.S. president must lead in the creation of a better, safer world.
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Critics allege that the World Bank is deeply flawed. Yet the world needs a strong World Bank to help manage development and the related global challenges of the 21st century. Do the Bank's shortcomings put its future at risk? If so, can the Bank be rescued? Rescuing the World Bank, a new book that includes a CGD working group report and selected essays edited by CGD president Nancy Birdsall, offers timely perspectives on challenges that are crucial to the Bank’s future success. Learn more
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Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report, and a senior political analyst for CNN, David Gergen joined CGD president Nancy Birdsall, and CGD senior fellows who authored essays in our recent book, The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President, for a lively discussion of the prospects for improved U.S. development policy under President Barack Obama.
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Controversies about aid effectiveness go back decades. This new working paper by CGD senior fellow Steven Radelet provides an introduction and overview of the basic concepts, data and key debates about foreign aid. It explores the range of views on the relationship between foreign aid and economic growth and discusses the reform of foreign aid, including selectivity, country ownership, the participatory approach, harmonization and coordination, and results-based management.Learn more
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Past research on aid and growth is flawed because it typically examines the impact of aggregate aid on growth over a short period, usually four years, while significant portions of aid are unlikely to affect growth in such a brief time. We focus on aid that plausibly could stimulate growth in four years, including budget and balance of payments support, investments in infrastructure, and aid for productive sectors such as agriculture and industry. This "short-impact" aid accounts for about 53% of all aid flows. We find a positive, causal relationship between short-impact aid and economic growth (with diminishing returns) over a four-year period. The impact is large: at least two-to-three times larger than in studies using aggregate aid.
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New Day, New Way: U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century calls on the next American president, Congress, policymakers and the American people to overhaul how the U.S. helps poor people in developing countries. Among the recommended steps: a new national foreign assistance strategy and a new Foreign Assistance Act to replace the outdated framework that President Kennedy signed nearly 50 years ago. CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet is a co-chair of the authoring group, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network.
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This report was prepared by a Working Group convened by the Center for Global Development to identify key priorities the Paul Wolfowitz at the start of his tenure at the World Bank on June 1, 2005. It argues that Wolfowitz's biggest challenge will not be managing the Bank, with its 10,000 staff, but leading its shareholders, the nations of the world. The report offers five bold but practical recommendations for restoring the legitimacy and increasing the effectiveness of the world's largest development institution.
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Donald Kaberuka, the new president of the African Development Bank, leads an institution whose financial standing has been restored from the near collapse of 1995, but whose operational credibility remains a work-in-progress. This CGD working group report offers external, independent advice to Kaberuka and the Bank's board of directors on broad principles to guide the Bank’s renewal. The report contains six bold yet achievable recommendations for management and shareholders as they address the urgent task of reforming Africa's development bank. Prominent among the recommendations is a strong focus on infrastructure.
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In this study, Steven Radelet examines the MCA's potential promise and possible pitfalls. He offers a rigorous analysis of the MCA’s central challenge: making foreign aid more effective in supporting economic growth and poverty reduction in the poor countries. He systematically explores what makes the MCA different and pinpoints the critical issues that will determine its success or failure.
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Meeting today’s foreign policy challenges requires a new vision of American global leadership based on the strength of our core values, ideas, and ingenuity. It calls for an integrated foreign policy that promotes our ideals, enhances our security, helps create economic and political opportunities for people around the world, and restores America’s image abroad. We cannot rely exclusively or even primarily on defense and security to meet these goals. CGD senior policy analyst Sheila Herrling and senior fellow Steve Radelet argue instead that we must make greater use of all the tools of statecraft, including diplomacy, trade, investment, intelligence, and a strong and effective foreign assistance strategy.
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From Innovation to Impact: Next Steps for the Millennium Challenge Corporation
- Jan 16, 2009
The Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) has received wide praise for its innovative approaches to aid allocation and delivery but has not yet reached its full potential. Now, with the transition to a new administration, the MCC must take bold steps to achieve greater effectiveness, clarity of purpose, and integration with the broader U.S. foreign assistance framework. CGD analysts Sheila Herrling, Steve Radelet, and Molly Kinder offer timely suggestions, including introducing smaller, multiple compacts, reorienting the Threshold Program, and focusing exclusively on low-income countries.
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Economic Growth and Development in Low-Income Countries (Syllabus)
- Jan 14, 2009
We will examine trends in economic growth and other development indicators around the world since 1965, with some reference to broad patterns since 1820.
We will briefly review the concepts underlying the standard Solow model of economic growth and other measures of development.
We will explore the relationship between growth, poverty, and equity.
We will examine the evolution of the developing-country debt crisis.
We will look at current controversies and debates about foreign Assistance.
We will examine the financial crises that affected several emerging markets in the late 1990s.
We will examine the relationships between trade, trade policy, and development.
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What's Behind the Recent Declines in U.S. Foreign Assistance?
- Dec 8, 2008
Total U.S. development assistance has fallen 22 percent since 2005 from $27.9 billion to $21.8 billion in 2007. In real terms, this was the smallest amount since 2002, excluding assistance to Iraq, Afghanistan, and HIV/AIDS programs. Senior fellow Steve Radelet and his coauthors examine the decline, and ask whether President Bush's pledge to double assistance to Africa is likely to be realized or not.
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Round Six of the MCA: Which Countries Are Most Likely to Be Selected for FY2009?
- Nov 24, 2008
The MCA Monitor team presents its predictions for the MCC's selection of countries eligible to apply for funding in 2009. Steve Radelet and Amy Crone take a hard look at the tough choice the MCC has to make, and they offer suggestions to help the MCC to weather a tight budget and political transition, to increase transparency, and clarify criteria for Threshold Program elegibility.
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MCA Monitor El Salvador Report from the Field
- Sep 3, 2008
This ninth MCA Monitor Report from the Field is a snapshot-in-time of El Salvador’s program in the early phases of its implementation, during a year in which the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is under pressure to increase and accelerate disbursements, demonstrate tangible impacts, and substantiate the country-driven model as a viable alternative to traditional U.S. government foreign assistance. El Salvador’s experience highlights the challenges of balancing country ownership and oversight as well as managing procurement and expectations. The report suggests solutions to pressing questions related to country ownership, the consultative process, donor coordination, aid effectiveness, and transparency.
-
The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President
- Aug 22, 2008
The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President shows how modest changes in U.S. policies could greatly improve the lives of poor people in developing countries, thus fostering greater stability, security, and prosperity globally and at home. Center for Global Development experts offer fresh perspectives and practical advice on trade policy, migration, foreign aid, climate change and more. In an introductory essay, CGD President Nancy Birdsall explains why and how the next U.S. president must lead in the creation of a better, safer world.
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U.S. Foreign Assistance for the Twenty-first Century (White House and the World Policy Brief)
- Aug 22, 2008
Meeting today’s foreign policy challenges requires a new vision of American global leadership based on the strength of our core values, ideas, and ingenuity. It calls for an integrated foreign policy that promotes our ideals, enhances our security, helps create economic and political opportunities for people around the world, and restores America’s image abroad. We cannot rely exclusively or even primarily on defense and security to meet these goals. CGD senior policy analyst Sheila Herrling and senior fellow Steve Radelet argue instead that we must make greater use of all the tools of statecraft, including diplomacy, trade, investment, intelligence, and a strong and effective foreign assistance strategy.
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New Day, New Way: U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century
- Jun 10, 2008
New Day, New Way: U.S. Foreign Assistance for the 21st Century calls on the next American president, Congress, policymakers and the American people to overhaul how the U.S. helps poor people in developing countries. Among the recommended steps: a new national foreign assistance strategy and a new Foreign Assistance Act to replace the outdated framework that President Kennedy signed nearly 50 years ago. CGD senior fellow Steve Radelet is a co-chair of the authoring group, the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network.
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Congressional Hearing: U.S. Assistance to Africa
- Apr 23, 2009
DATE: Thursday, April 23, 2009
TIME: 11:30 a.m.
SUBJECT: U.S. Assistance to Africa: A Call for Foreign Aid Reform
WITNESSES:
Panel I
Mr. Earl Gast
Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator
Bureau for Africa
United States Agency for International Development
Panel II
Ousmane Badiane, Ph.D.
Africa Director
International Food Policy Research Institute
Steven Radelet, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
Center for Global Development
Meredeth Turshen, D. Phil
Professor
Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
Rutgers University
Mr. Bill O'Keefe
Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy
Catholic Relief Services
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Congressional Hearing: USAID in the 21st Century
- Apr 1, 2009
USAID IN THE 21ST CENTURY HEARING before the COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Time: 9:30 A.M.
Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Building
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The 2008 Commitment to Development Ideas in Action Award
- Mar 17, 2009
Please join us in honoring ONE, the 2008 winner of the Commitment to Development Ideas in Action Award, sponsored jointly by the Center for Global Development (CGD) and Foreign Policy magazine. ONE is an advocacy organization that raised awareness about global poverty during the 2008 U.S. presidential elections. Through its ONE Vote '08 initiative, ONE mobilized 2 million supporters to sign petitions, raise awareness in their communities, and encourage the presidential candidates to explain how they would improve U.S. policies that affect poor people in developing countries. Following the award presentation, we will have a short discussion on how ONE and others can ensure global development remains part of America’s political discourse in the Obama administration and 111th Congress.
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CGD Special Discussion with David Gergen on Obama's Global Development Policy
- Jan 16, 2009
Join Nancy Birdsall, David Gergen, and CGD senior fellows who are authors of essays in our newest book, The White House and the World: A Global Development Agenda for the Next U.S. President , for a lively discussion of the prospects for improved U.S. development policy under President Barack Obama.
As you know, David Gergen has been an influential participant in American public life for 30 years. A best-selling author and advisor to presidents Reagan, Nixon, Ford and Clinton, David is currently director of the Center for Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, editor-at-large at U.S. News & World Report, and a senior political analyst for CNN.
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A Conversation with Ambassador John Danilovich: Transition and the MCC
- Jan 13, 2009
Join us for a conversation with Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) CEO John Danilovich as he prepares to pass stewardship over the MCC to a new Administration. In his introductory remarks and subsequent dialogue with CGD Senior Fellow Steve Radelet, Ambassador Danilovich will reflect upon his role and experiences in leading and shaping the agency which marks its fifth anniversary in January. He will share his views on both the challenges and opportunities of implementing what many call “one of the most promising innovations in foreign aid” and will reflect on how the MCC fits into the broader landscape of modernizing U.S. foreign assistance, a stated priority for the incoming Obama Administration. We are delighted to host Ambassador Danilovich on the “eve” of his departure and to both congratulate him for his many successes as well as explore with him the unfinished agenda for the new team to carry forward.
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Economic Development and State Building
- Jan 8, 2009
The multifaceted nature of current and emerging global security challenges requires a judicious and balanced use of development, diplomacy and defense--the 3Ds. United States' leadership in ensuring the success of global efforts to address poverty, protect the environment and safeguard human rights is critical. Enhanced living standards and freedom from fear are necessary conditions for the creation of secure and prosperous societies. This panel will evaluate U.S. programs to promote economic development in fragile environments, analyze policy options for sustainable outcomes and examine institutional mechanisms that could bolster coordination and improve effectiveness.
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A Conversation with Henrietta Fore
- Dec 9, 2008
Join us for an intimate conversation with Director of U.S. Foreign
Assistance and USAID Administrator Henrietta Fore as she prepares to
pass her torch of elevating development and modernizing foreign
assistance to a new Administration. In a dialogue moderated by CGD
Senior Fellow Steve Radelet, she will reflect upon her role and
experiences as part of the Bush Administration, from her most
significant initiatives and accomplishments to the unfinished agenda for the new team to carry forward. She will share her views on both the challenges and opportunities of implementing a reform agenda for U.S. foreign assistance in the coming years, from managing the impact of the
financial crisis to navigating future reform efforts. As we all prepare
for the upcoming transition to a new Administration, there is much to
learn from the experiences of Director and Administrator Fore.
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Which Countries Will the Millennium Challenge Corporation Choose for Fiscal Year 2009?
- Dec 2, 2008
On December 11th, the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will announce which countries will be eligible to apply for funding in 2009. With funding tight, few new countries passing the eligibility indicators test, twelve of eighteen countries with signed MCC compacts failing the indicators test, and an uncertain future in the new administration, this year's selection round will both test the MCC's adherence to its principles and perhaps set new precedents. CGD's MCA Monitor team took a hard look at tough choices and predicts which countries the MCC Board is likely to choose for 2009 in a new paper titled "Round Six of the MCA". This event features a discussion with Steve Radelet, Senior Fellow at CGD, who will present the forecast and highlight the key issues the Board will face this year.
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Perspectives on the AIDS Pandemic and the Importance of Continuing Our Commitment
- Dec 1, 2008
At this critical juncture of the global economic crisis, it is important to secure the vigorous commitment of the public health community, the US administration, Congress, and the US public to sustain the US investment in the AIDS pandemic. World AIDS Day presents an opportunity to connect with the experience of communities living with HIV, celebrate what has been accomplished, and face the challenge of ensuring the most effective use of resources to address the challenge of the AIDS pandemic over the long term.
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