Links I Liked

New research based on two big data dumps – Swiss leaks and the Panama papers, shows that even in more-progressive-than-thou Scandinavia it’s the very top (0.01%) that use tax havens to avoid paying their share. Conclusion? Inequality is much worse than we thought.

Why is France a standing affront to neo-liberals? Lovely writing from Craig Murray, h/t Max Lawson

Excellent summary of the evidence to date on the impact of different kinds of cash transfer, and suggestions for future research

Handy guide to the international commitments in manifestos of the ‘main UK parliamentary political parties’ ahead of this Thursday’s election

Summary of the numerous debates on universalism v targeting from Raj Desai at Brookings

Brazilian human rights NGOs are weaning themselves off foreign aid and building domestic donor bases.

Natural experiment: Latin America’s massive Odebrecht scandal – a big construction firm gets caught bribing lots of governments at the same time. Perfect chance to compare how different governments respond.

A few aid donors are trying to shift social norms by funding soap operas and reality TV shows with a social message (Oxfam has done a top job in East Africa with Female Food Heroes). I suspect a lot of these are worthy flops, but get them right and the reach is amazing. India’s Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon – I, a woman, can achieve anything has had over 400 million viewers in its first two seasons. Its storyline includes acid attacks, domestic violence and abortion of female foetuses – the accompanying hotline got 1.4 million calls in the first season alone. Props to DFID for part-funding it.

And here’s the first episode, with English subtitles