News & Media

In addition to academic research and policy papers, the Growth Lab shares research insights and the impact of our work through visual stories, blogs, newsletters, podcasts, videos, and press releases.

Our work has been featured in various media outlets including the BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, The Economist, The Financial Times, New York Times, Wall St. Journal, and Washington Post.

Media members seeking expert commentary and interviews with Growth Lab researchers should email Chuck McKenney.

News

Growth Lab researchers meet with Namibian locals in a marketplace

Diagnosing Economic Woes and Helping Develop Cures

Like a teaching and research hospital for a medical school, the Growth Lab is training students and practitioners to do economic development policy work. In this feature story in Harvard Kennedy School Magazine, learn more about the origins of the Growth Lab, our approach to economic growth, the importance of diagnostic tools, and our homegrown staff.

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Los nuevos alcaldes necesitarán “Metroverse”

June 5, 2021

Metroverse in SDP Noticias

Después de festejar, el próximo lunes, los alcaldes electos de las principales ciudades de México tendrán que hacer frente a la realidad. Diseñarán sus estrategias de transición, conformarán sus equipos y se prepararán para iniciar sus gobiernos. Aquí hay una buena noticia para ellos.

El “Growth Lab” (laboratorio de crecimiento) de la Universidad de Harvard anunció el miércoles pasado el lanzamiento de Metroverse” , un navegador de información urbana diseñado para proporcionar datos económicos sin precedentes para más de 1,000...

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Is Mexico’s President a Threat to Its Democracy?

June 4, 2021

Atlas of Economic Complexity in the Wall Street Journal

The uncertainty and the ensuing pandemic have dramatically slowed business investment. Gross fixed investment from both the government and business fell 4.6% during 2019, Mr. López Obrador’s first full year in power, and then another 18.2% in 2020, according to figures from the national statistics institute. Foreign direct investment for the past two years has been down about $5 billion a year to $30 billion.

Mexico's economy has diversified substantially since opening up more than three decades ago....

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New Metroverse tool helps municipal planners, policymakers, and businesses identify opportunities for economic development

June 4, 2021

Metroverse in HKS News

Policymakers, urban planners, and businesspeople now have unprecedented access to key economic data for more than 1,000 urban areas in 79 countries, thanks to the launch of the new Metroverse analysis tool from the Growth Lab at Harvard’s Center for International Development.

The new project is an outgrowth of the Atlas of Economic Complexity, which examines countries’ technological capabilities and...

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Podcasts

Odd Lots: How Economic Complexity Explains Which Countries Become Rich

In this episode of Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast, Ricardo Hausmann helps Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway understand what economic complexity is, how it's measured, and the process by which countries can move from being less complex to more complex over time.

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Videos

The European Union: The Most Ambitious Political Enterprise Ever Attempted?

At the 9th European Conference on Corporate R&D and Innovation (CONCORDi 2023), Ricardo Hausmann discusses the European Union, its role in the world, and why it is the most ambitious political enterprise humanity has ever attempted.

From The Blog

Photo collage of Growth Lab interns

Student Stories

Each year, the Growth Lab offers students opportunities to work with our team through internships and collaborations in policy research projects. In this new blog series, the students share their research, inspiration, challenges, and advice for future interns. 

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From Chips to Beyond: Taiwan’s Need for Economic Diversification

By Rachel Chang

The fate of Taiwan's economy hangs in the balance as the semiconductor industry encounters mounting geopolitical pressures from the United States and China. Although Taiwan's dominance in the chip market provides a short-term advantage, it also exposes the economy to vulnerabilities. Taiwan must diversify into other industries in order to achieve a more stable path of growth and development and...

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See also: Asia, Taiwan, Digital, Interns
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Setting the Grounds to Measure Smallholder Farmers' Complexity

By Laura Romero

The Growth Lab has estimated economic complexity, a measure of knowhow agglomeration, for several countries worldwide. However, measuring complexity in the agricultural sector poses a significant challenge. What is more, measuring it for smallholder farmers around the world is even more complex. Through our work, we have laid the groundwork for future measures of complexity for this population...

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