'The future of global development and implications for aid' with Charles Kenny

31 October 2023

Portrait of Charles Kenny

with Charles Kenny
Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow

Charles Kenny is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow. His work focuses on global development trends and international development finance. He is the author of books including “The Plague Cycle: The U...

Richer countries are rapidly ageing and productivity is stagnating.

Meanwhile, industry - the motor for rapid economic development in the past - employs ever fewer people worldwide. And yet there is still hope for greater, and shared, global prosperity. Declining working age populations in rich countries are demanding ever-more services. A rising, increasingly educated working age population in lower income economies can provide them.

This is an immense, mutually beneficial opportunity to create a new development model, and a new model for development assistance. Aid for economic growth traditionally tried to foster the expansion of export-oriented industrial employment in recipient countries through physical investment. In the future, it can foster the expansion of expatriate employment through skills partnerships.