Terence Wood
@terencewoodnz.bsky.social
Fellow at the Development Policy Centre. Aid, political economy, Melanesian politics. My writing at: https://devpolicy.org/author/terencewood/
New Zealand businesses are lobbying the government to tie more of its aid to the Pacific. In this post I explain why this would be a terrible idea: open.substack.com/pub/terencew...?
Tying New Zealand aid is an awful idea
Some people want New Zealand to tie its aid. Here's why that would be a bad idea
open.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 4:35 AM
New Zealand businesses are lobbying the government to tie more of its aid to the Pacific. In this post I explain why this would be a terrible idea: open.substack.com/pub/terencew...?
Reposted by Terence Wood
Dr @terencewoodnz.bsky.social “said that New Zealand's aid approach, amid an ever-increasing scarcity, is becoming more transactional rather than being based on a larger vision for long-term outcomes”. 😬
www.rnz.co.nz/internationa...
www.rnz.co.nz/internationa...
Pacific faces major aid shortfall as NZ and Western donors scale back - Lowy Institute report
Lowy Institute report says New Zealand is expected to reduce its overseas aid funding by about 35 percent in the next two years.
www.rnz.co.nz
October 29, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Dr @terencewoodnz.bsky.social “said that New Zealand's aid approach, amid an ever-increasing scarcity, is becoming more transactional rather than being based on a larger vision for long-term outcomes”. 😬
www.rnz.co.nz/internationa...
www.rnz.co.nz/internationa...
Welcome to the new world of aid influencing. This from @timhirschelburns.bsky.social makes me think I need to get out more often, or actually stay in more often and watch YouTube: timhirschelburns.substack.com/p/mrbeast-is...
MrBeast is Aid's Biggest Spokesperson
If you're surprised, it's because you're living in yesterday's media environment
timhirschelburns.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Welcome to the new world of aid influencing. This from @timhirschelburns.bsky.social makes me think I need to get out more often, or actually stay in more often and watch YouTube: timhirschelburns.substack.com/p/mrbeast-is...
Note to self THEA (used to be CLEA) has election data on a lot of Pacific countries: electiondataarchive.org/wp-content/u...
electiondataarchive.org
October 22, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Note to self THEA (used to be CLEA) has election data on a lot of Pacific countries: electiondataarchive.org/wp-content/u...
More interesting research on NBER: homeless shelters help www.nber.org/papers/w34376
The Social and Individual Effects of Homeless Shelter: Evidence from Temporary Shelter Provision
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
October 21, 2025 at 12:42 AM
More interesting research on NBER: homeless shelters help www.nber.org/papers/w34376
Interesting research: cellphone bans are not unproblematic, but they do seem to lead to better education outcomes: www.nber.org/papers/w34388
The Impact of Cellphone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
October 21, 2025 at 12:37 AM
Interesting research: cellphone bans are not unproblematic, but they do seem to lead to better education outcomes: www.nber.org/papers/w34388
Prediction: this is all going to end in tears - www.cgdev.org/blog/other-o...
Other Official Flows: Why More Than ODA Matters
In this blog I highlight that by ignoring Other Official Flows (roughly, official finance not concessional enough to be counted as ODA), analysts are significantly misinterpreting trends in developmen...
www.cgdev.org
October 14, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Prediction: this is all going to end in tears - www.cgdev.org/blog/other-o...
Reposted by Terence Wood
i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...
Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.
apnews.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:59 PM
i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...
Reposted by Terence Wood
Last month, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka opened Fiji’s new embassy in Jerusalem. My Inside Story report looks at recent Pacific diplomatic support for Israel - a sharp contrast to international condemnation of Israeli policy in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
insidestory.org.au/palestine-an...
insidestory.org.au/palestine-an...
Palestine and the Pacific • Nic Maclellan
Why have island nations been so prominent among supporters of Israel?
insidestory.org.au
October 7, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Last month, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka opened Fiji’s new embassy in Jerusalem. My Inside Story report looks at recent Pacific diplomatic support for Israel - a sharp contrast to international condemnation of Israeli policy in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
insidestory.org.au/palestine-an...
insidestory.org.au/palestine-an...
Australians are becoming more supportive of aid spending over time. My latest blog post from our public opinion survey data. Very surprised by trends among conservative voters: devpolicy.org/australians-... @amitam.bsky.social
Australians are becoming more supportive of aid – slowly - Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre
Australians on the right and the left of the political spectrum are now more supportive of aid than they once were, says Terence Wood.
devpolicy.org
October 6, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Australians are becoming more supportive of aid spending over time. My latest blog post from our public opinion survey data. Very surprised by trends among conservative voters: devpolicy.org/australians-... @amitam.bsky.social
Very useful discussion of some key development economics myths: voxdev.org/topic/mythbu...
Mythbusters: Development economics edition
Economic research plays a very useful role in testing our priors and establishing when widely held beliefs turn out to be false.
voxdev.org
October 1, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Very useful discussion of some key development economics myths: voxdev.org/topic/mythbu...
Of windmills and windbags, @pkrugman.bsky.social debunks nonsense from the usual suspects on the rise of renewable energy and the decline of coal: open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Fossil Fuels and Fossilized Minds
What’s driving the doomed attempt to revive coal?
open.substack.com
October 1, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Of windmills and windbags, @pkrugman.bsky.social debunks nonsense from the usual suspects on the rise of renewable energy and the decline of coal: open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
Thanks to the New Cold War the 2024 Solomon Islands elections ended up on the international stage. How did things work out? A lot better than the pundits predicted. My new open access journal article on what happened: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
A New and Unfamiliar Sea: Politics, Geopolitics and the 2024 General Elections in Solomon Islands
The 2024 elections in Solomon Islands received an unusual amount of international attention, much of it focused on China. The elections were unusual in a range of ways: parties appeared to become m...
www.tandfonline.com
September 25, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Thanks to the New Cold War the 2024 Solomon Islands elections ended up on the international stage. How did things work out? A lot better than the pundits predicted. My new open access journal article on what happened: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
NZ and Australia on this list. Overreach. responsiblestatecraft.org/drug-war-aumf/
Proposed war authorization could allow Trump to target 60+ countries
An 'insanely broad' draft AUMF could provide the president with wide latitude to go after supposed 'narco-terrorists'
responsiblestatecraft.org
September 24, 2025 at 1:04 AM
NZ and Australia on this list. Overreach. responsiblestatecraft.org/drug-war-aumf/
Globally, an increasing share of people say they feel safer walking at home at night, though it varies from country to country obviously, and is gendered too.
www.gallup.com/analytics/35...
www.gallup.com/analytics/35...
September 23, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Globally, an increasing share of people say they feel safer walking at home at night, though it varies from country to country obviously, and is gendered too.
www.gallup.com/analytics/35...
www.gallup.com/analytics/35...
The latest on US aid. Likely lessons to emerge from this: vertical funds are ok actually if they get medicines to people in need; in poorly governed states NGOs are a good alternative; well given aid doesn't cause poor governance, domestic political economy does. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...
U.S. to Cut Out Nongovernmental Groups in Refocusing Health Aid
www.nytimes.com
September 18, 2025 at 7:06 PM
The latest on US aid. Likely lessons to emerge from this: vertical funds are ok actually if they get medicines to people in need; in poorly governed states NGOs are a good alternative; well given aid doesn't cause poor governance, domestic political economy does. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...
A blast from the past. What Australia thought about the Pacific during the Old Cold War (1987): nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3381...
September 15, 2025 at 10:35 PM
A blast from the past. What Australia thought about the Pacific during the Old Cold War (1987): nla.gov.au/nla.obj-3381...
This is very helpful. From PNG's NRI a bibliography of all chapters, papers, studies etc. on elections in Papua New Guinea: pngnri.org/images/Publi...
pngnri.org
September 15, 2025 at 1:54 AM
This is very helpful. From PNG's NRI a bibliography of all chapters, papers, studies etc. on elections in Papua New Guinea: pngnri.org/images/Publi...
File under trivial curiosities: in the 2002 general election in Papua New Guinea a party called National Front stood 30 candidates. My guess is that their ideology was somewhat different from their northern hemisphere namesakes.
September 10, 2025 at 11:49 PM
File under trivial curiosities: in the 2002 general election in Papua New Guinea a party called National Front stood 30 candidates. My guess is that their ideology was somewhat different from their northern hemisphere namesakes.
Interesting on attitudes to Israel in the Pacific. In North Malaita there are actually people who believe they are lost tribe of Israelites. Other support is to do with evangelical Christianity and the internet. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
As censure increases over war in Gaza, Israel finds support among Pacific Islands
Countries including Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Tonga have given Israel vital backing at the UN
www.theguardian.com
September 10, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Interesting on attitudes to Israel in the Pacific. In North Malaita there are actually people who believe they are lost tribe of Israelites. Other support is to do with evangelical Christianity and the internet. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
What might the Trump administration's proposed pocket rescission mean for aid flows? Good explainer on @cgdev.org: www.cgdev.org/blog/pocket-...
The Pocket Rescission Gambit: Trump's Strategy to Cut Foreign Aid Without Congressional Approval
Official word came Friday that the administration would pursue a pocket rescission of $4.9 billion in international assistance funding. The move sets the stage for a larger fight over Congress’s const...
www.cgdev.org
September 7, 2025 at 9:48 PM
What might the Trump administration's proposed pocket rescission mean for aid flows? Good explainer on @cgdev.org: www.cgdev.org/blog/pocket-...
Is Australian climate adaptation aid really on the rise? Alyssa Leng and I dug into the data. Much of the rise is due to recoding of projects. To make matters worse projects are now more likely to have an adaptation focus in countries less vulnerable to climate change: devpolicy.org/assessing-au...
Assessing Australia's climate adaptation aid - Devpolicy Blog from the Development Policy Centre
In the rush to increase climate finance, Australia is focusing more attention on climate adaptation in places where it is needed less, say Wood and Leng.
devpolicy.org
August 29, 2025 at 3:18 AM
Is Australian climate adaptation aid really on the rise? Alyssa Leng and I dug into the data. Much of the rise is due to recoding of projects. To make matters worse projects are now more likely to have an adaptation focus in countries less vulnerable to climate change: devpolicy.org/assessing-au...
New Zealand's development NGOs need to take action on Gaza: terencew.substack.com/p/new-zealan...
August 29, 2025 at 1:37 AM
New Zealand's development NGOs need to take action on Gaza: terencew.substack.com/p/new-zealan...
Reposted by Terence Wood
Papua New Guinea's state-owned electricity company is trading while insolvent, with insiders describing the situation as "hopeless" and "untenable".
PNG's only electricity provider more than $1.5 billion in debt
Papua New Guinea's state-owned electricity company is trading while insolvent, with insiders describing the situation as "hopeless" and "untenable".
www.abc.net.au
August 28, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Papua New Guinea's state-owned electricity company is trading while insolvent, with insiders describing the situation as "hopeless" and "untenable".
Reposted by Terence Wood
🚨Border Patrol arrested two firefighters who were actively fighting a wildfire at the time.
When the other members of the crew asked for a chance to say goodbye, a Border Patrol agent told the crew member “you need to get the f*ck out of here. I’m going to make you leave.”
When the other members of the crew asked for a chance to say goodbye, a Border Patrol agent told the crew member “you need to get the f*ck out of here. I’m going to make you leave.”
August 28, 2025 at 2:51 AM
🚨Border Patrol arrested two firefighters who were actively fighting a wildfire at the time.
When the other members of the crew asked for a chance to say goodbye, a Border Patrol agent told the crew member “you need to get the f*ck out of here. I’m going to make you leave.”
When the other members of the crew asked for a chance to say goodbye, a Border Patrol agent told the crew member “you need to get the f*ck out of here. I’m going to make you leave.”