Maren Duvendack
Biographic Data
| ID | 4226521 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Maren Duvendack |
| GIVEN NAMES | Maren |
| FAMILY NAME | Duvendack |
| SIGNATURE | DUVENDACK M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of East Anglia |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-8125-9115 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 71 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
The resilience of systems‐thinking approaches when faced with an evolving crisis
Development Research in Flux and in Demand
Why gendered quantification trends are a problem
Feminist scholars have long debated quantification trends in the social sciences. Of particular concern has been the extent to which the prestige assigned to quantitative methods may reinforce ‘malestream’ dynamics in academic knowledge production. ‘Malestream’ dynamics include the (implicit or explicit) privileging of a male-centric lens in the research process and the association of ‘hard’ numerical data with notions of ‘scientifically superior…
Gender Inclusivity of India’s Digital Financial Revolution for Attainment of SDGs
Payment‐by‐results for health interventions in low‐ and middle‐income countries
Colonial Legacies, Ethnicity and Fertility Decline in Kenya
Fintech and tax in Sub-Saharan Africa
The rise of digital financial services has attracted growing attention from governments in Sub-Saharan Africa seeking to raise tax revenue. In the context of global concerns around how governments can tax the digital economy and fintech, we evaluate recent debates over mobile money taxation in Africa as fundamentally political, rather than technical matters. We assess in depth three such debates, in Kenya, Uganda and Malawi. In doing so, we draw …
Responding to the Multifaceted Covid-19 Crisis
COVID-19 has severely impacted the society not only in terms of health but also in terms of economic survival of individuals. Unless adequate support is provided, the pandemic will have long-lasting effects, especially on the lives of the most vulnerable, often working in the informal sector. In this article, we present a case study drawing on systems thinking and complexity theory, outlining how the city of Mumbai has responded to COVID-19. We f…
Is fin-tech the new panacea for poverty alleviation and local development? Contesting Suri and Jack’s M-Pesa findings published in Science
Financial technology, or simply ‘fin-tech’, is increasingly seen as one of the key tools to facilitate poverty reduction and local economic development. One article in particular by Tavneet Suri and William Jack published in the leading publication Science has played a hugely influential role in promoting the fin-tech model in the global South using the example of Kenya’s iconic M-Pesa money transfer platform. The authors’ central claim is that M…
Micro-Finance, Women’s Empowerment and Fertility Decline in Bangladesh
As Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen has argued “[Bangladesh’s development achievements have] important lessons for other countries across the globe, [in particular a focus on] reducing gender inequality”. A major avenue through which this emphasis has been manifest lies, according to this narrative, in enhancements to women’s agency for instrumental and intrinsic reasons particularly through innovations in family planning and microfinance. The “Ban…
Does Government Spending Affect Income Poverty? A Meta-regression Analysis
This paper presents the results of a meta-regression analysis of the relationship between government spending and income poverty, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. Through a comprehensive search and screening process, we identify a total of 19 cross-country econometric studies containing 169 estimates of this relationship. We find that the size and direction of the estimated relationship are affected by a range of factors, most no…
(Mis)use of evidence in microfinance programming in the global south
This paper looks at the use of economic and social ‘evidence’ in debates on microfinance. Microfinance was originally inspired by small-scale women's savings and credit organisations. When its potential to become a financially sustainable, even profit-making, development intervention was recognised, microfinance underwent a ‘revolution’ that was to convert it into a much lauded development ‘panacea’. Microfinance's reputation has, however, been t…
Impact Evaluation – Are We ‘Off the Gold Standard’
Things you Wanted to Know about Bias in Evaluations but Never Dared to Think
The thrust for evidence?based policymaking has paid little attention to problems of bias. Statistical evidence is more fragile than generally understood, and false positives are all too likely given the incentives of policymakers and academic and professional evaluators. Well?known cognitive biases make bias likely for not dissimilar reasons in qualitative and mixed methods evaluations. What we term delinquent organisational isomorphism promotes …
Replication of quantitative work in development studies
There is a growing demand for replications of authoritative works in development studies, which reflects recent trends in other social sciences as well as challenges to important quantitative works in development studies where replications have made contested contributions to understanding. At the same time, there is a strong trend within development towards adoption of medical models of evidence-based policy to find out what policies and interve…
The benefits and challenges of using systematic reviews in international development research
High Noon for Microfinance Impact Evaluations
Recently, microfinance has come under increasing criticism raising questions of the validity of iconic studies which have justified it, such as Pitt and Khandker. Chemin applied propensity score matching to the Pitt and Khandker data, finding different impacts, but does not disaggregate by gender of borrower. We first replicate Chemin and extend his analysis in two ways. We test the robustness of propensity score matching results to selection on …
Response to Chemin and to Pitt
We reply to the discussion and criticisms of Matthieu Chemin (MC) and Mark Pitt (MP) to our paper ((Duvendack and Palmer-Jones (DPJ)) (all this issue). MC clarifies many issues which now make replication pure probable (but not yet achieved), and MP identifies a number of problems with DPJ (some of which are shared with Chemin, 2008). Chemin (2008) made at least one crucial undocumented and unrealistic assumption, and did not document many of his …
Is fin-tech the new panacea for poverty alleviation and local development? Contesting Suri and Jack’s M-Pesa findings published in Science
Financial technology, or simply ‘fin-tech’, is increasingly seen as one of the key tools to facilitate poverty reduction and local economic development. One article in particular by Tavneet Suri and William Jack published in the leading publication Science has played a hugely influential role in promoting the fin-tech model in the global South using the example of Kenya’s iconic M-Pesa money transfer platform. The authors’ central claim is that M…
Does Government Spending Affect Income Poverty? A Meta-regression Analysis
This paper presents the results of a meta-regression analysis of the relationship between government spending and income poverty, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. Through a comprehensive search and screening process, we identify a total of 19 cross-country econometric studies containing 169 estimates of this relationship. We find that the size and direction of the estimated relationship are affected by a range of factors, most no…
Impact Evaluation – Are We ‘Off the Gold Standard’
Gender Inclusivity of India’s Digital Financial Revolution for Attainment of SDGs
(Mis)use of evidence in microfinance programming in the global south
This paper looks at the use of economic and social ‘evidence’ in debates on microfinance. Microfinance was originally inspired by small-scale women's savings and credit organisations. When its potential to become a financially sustainable, even profit-making, development intervention was recognised, microfinance underwent a ‘revolution’ that was to convert it into a much lauded development ‘panacea’. Microfinance's reputation has, however, been t…
Things you Wanted to Know about Bias in Evaluations but Never Dared to Think
The thrust for evidence?based policymaking has paid little attention to problems of bias. Statistical evidence is more fragile than generally understood, and false positives are all too likely given the incentives of policymakers and academic and professional evaluators. Well?known cognitive biases make bias likely for not dissimilar reasons in qualitative and mixed methods evaluations. What we term delinquent organisational isomorphism promotes …
Replication of quantitative work in development studies
There is a growing demand for replications of authoritative works in development studies, which reflects recent trends in other social sciences as well as challenges to important quantitative works in development studies where replications have made contested contributions to understanding. At the same time, there is a strong trend within development towards adoption of medical models of evidence-based policy to find out what policies and interve…
Why gendered quantification trends are a problem
Feminist scholars have long debated quantification trends in the social sciences. Of particular concern has been the extent to which the prestige assigned to quantitative methods may reinforce ‘malestream’ dynamics in academic knowledge production. ‘Malestream’ dynamics include the (implicit or explicit) privileging of a male-centric lens in the research process and the association of ‘hard’ numerical data with notions of ‘scientifically superior…
Fintech and tax in Sub-Saharan Africa
The rise of digital financial services has attracted growing attention from governments in Sub-Saharan Africa seeking to raise tax revenue. In the context of global concerns around how governments can tax the digital economy and fintech, we evaluate recent debates over mobile money taxation in Africa as fundamentally political, rather than technical matters. We assess in depth three such debates, in Kenya, Uganda and Malawi. In doing so, we draw …
The benefits and challenges of using systematic reviews in international development research
High Noon for Microfinance Impact Evaluations
Recently, microfinance has come under increasing criticism raising questions of the validity of iconic studies which have justified it, such as Pitt and Khandker. Chemin applied propensity score matching to the Pitt and Khandker data, finding different impacts, but does not disaggregate by gender of borrower. We first replicate Chemin and extend his analysis in two ways. We test the robustness of propensity score matching results to selection on …
Response to Chemin and to Pitt
We reply to the discussion and criticisms of Matthieu Chemin (MC) and Mark Pitt (MP) to our paper ((Duvendack and Palmer-Jones (DPJ)) (all this issue). MC clarifies many issues which now make replication pure probable (but not yet achieved), and MP identifies a number of problems with DPJ (some of which are shared with Chemin, 2008). Chemin (2008) made at least one crucial undocumented and unrealistic assumption, and did not document many of his …
Replication of quantitative work in development studies
There is a growing demand for replications of authoritative works in development studies, which reflects recent trends in other social sciences as well as challenges to important quantitative works in development studies where replications have made contested contributions to understanding. At the same time, there is a strong trend within development towards adoption of medical models of evidence-based policy to find out what policies and interve…
Impact Evaluation – Are We ‘Off the Gold Standard’
Things you Wanted to Know about Bias in Evaluations but Never Dared to Think
The thrust for evidence?based policymaking has paid little attention to problems of bias. Statistical evidence is more fragile than generally understood, and false positives are all too likely given the incentives of policymakers and academic and professional evaluators. Well?known cognitive biases make bias likely for not dissimilar reasons in qualitative and mixed methods evaluations. What we term delinquent organisational isomorphism promotes …
(Mis)use of evidence in microfinance programming in the global south
This paper looks at the use of economic and social ‘evidence’ in debates on microfinance. Microfinance was originally inspired by small-scale women's savings and credit organisations. When its potential to become a financially sustainable, even profit-making, development intervention was recognised, microfinance underwent a ‘revolution’ that was to convert it into a much lauded development ‘panacea’. Microfinance's reputation has, however, been t…
Micro-Finance, Women’s Empowerment and Fertility Decline in Bangladesh
As Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen has argued “[Bangladesh’s development achievements have] important lessons for other countries across the globe, [in particular a focus on] reducing gender inequality”. A major avenue through which this emphasis has been manifest lies, according to this narrative, in enhancements to women’s agency for instrumental and intrinsic reasons particularly through innovations in family planning and microfinance. The “Ban…
Does Government Spending Affect Income Poverty? A Meta-regression Analysis
This paper presents the results of a meta-regression analysis of the relationship between government spending and income poverty, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. Through a comprehensive search and screening process, we identify a total of 19 cross-country econometric studies containing 169 estimates of this relationship. We find that the size and direction of the estimated relationship are affected by a range of factors, most no…
Is fin-tech the new panacea for poverty alleviation and local development? Contesting Suri and Jack’s M-Pesa findings published in Science
Financial technology, or simply ‘fin-tech’, is increasingly seen as one of the key tools to facilitate poverty reduction and local economic development. One article in particular by Tavneet Suri and William Jack published in the leading publication Science has played a hugely influential role in promoting the fin-tech model in the global South using the example of Kenya’s iconic M-Pesa money transfer platform. The authors’ central claim is that M…
Responding to the Multifaceted Covid-19 Crisis
COVID-19 has severely impacted the society not only in terms of health but also in terms of economic survival of individuals. Unless adequate support is provided, the pandemic will have long-lasting effects, especially on the lives of the most vulnerable, often working in the informal sector. In this article, we present a case study drawing on systems thinking and complexity theory, outlining how the city of Mumbai has responded to COVID-19. We f…
Payment‐by‐results for health interventions in low‐ and middle‐income countries
Colonial Legacies, Ethnicity and Fertility Decline in Kenya
Fintech and tax in Sub-Saharan Africa
The rise of digital financial services has attracted growing attention from governments in Sub-Saharan Africa seeking to raise tax revenue. In the context of global concerns around how governments can tax the digital economy and fintech, we evaluate recent debates over mobile money taxation in Africa as fundamentally political, rather than technical matters. We assess in depth three such debates, in Kenya, Uganda and Malawi. In doing so, we draw …
Gender Inclusivity of India’s Digital Financial Revolution for Attainment of SDGs
The resilience of systems‐thinking approaches when faced with an evolving crisis
Development Research in Flux and in Demand
Why gendered quantification trends are a problem
Feminist scholars have long debated quantification trends in the social sciences. Of particular concern has been the extent to which the prestige assigned to quantitative methods may reinforce ‘malestream’ dynamics in academic knowledge production. ‘Malestream’ dynamics include the (implicit or explicit) privileging of a male-centric lens in the research process and the association of ‘hard’ numerical data with notions of ‘scientifically superior…
Economics (15 works) · Political science (13 works) · Economic growth (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion (8 works) · Development economics (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare (5 works) · Politics (4 works) · Psychology (4 works)