“We know this is crazy ambitious,” Lant Pritchett says to introduce RISE: Research on Improving Systems of Education. He’s right. The RISE program plans to study education systems reform in five countries over six years; CGD directs the research agenda.

India is a great example of what not to do, suggests Professor Karthik Muralidharan of the University of California, San Diego, a leading researcher on what works – and what does not work – in education in developing countries. Seems strange when you consider Indians head up some of the ...

A couple years ago, Alan Krueger, then chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, made a big splash by highlighting a relationship he christened “The Great Gatsby Curve.” Simply put, data from multiple OECD countries showed that high income inequality was associate...