Tim Hirschel-Burns

Working @GDP_Center for a global economy that advances development. Past: @YaleLawSch, 🇧🇯. Views mine. Subscribe to my Substack:

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

@KrutikaKuppalli Even more, none of the Congolese national team players play for Congolese club teams! So presumably almost none of them have been in the DRC at all in the last few months

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

It appears USAID forgot about Colombia for the first 61 years of its existence

[captive dreamer @captive_dreamer]

So it turns out USAID was propping up the Latin American left and when the funding dried up, looks like the votes did too.

[Seung Min Kim @seungminkim]

WASHINGTON (AP) — US to slash the number of embassies in Africa that process visas, AP sources say, as Trump has moved to limit migration.

[Boston University Global Development Policy Center @GDP_Center]

The 2025 Jubilee Report on debt relief commissioned by Pope Francis has prompted reflections on the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI), large-scale efforts linked to the Jubilee Year of 2000.

The 3️⃣rd installment of @TimH_B's International Investment Pushes blog series explores the successes and limitations of these two innovative debt relief programs and calls for a new era of relief, alongside broader financial architecture reforms.

Read more: https://t.co/hXrBKLWtc6

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

Even more striking when you look at the side-by-side: Chinese market share of industries in 2005 v 2023.

Like them or not, China's strategies have really worked

[Kyle Chan @kyleichan]

Many have tried industrial policy: India, Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia, even the US. But why have some been more successful: Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan?

Great FT piece by @tejparikh90: “China’s comparative advantage is industrial policy” https://t.co/N5QLZ4OdOU

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

@fromarsetoelbow I am an Arsenal supporter today because some of those Jewish refugees passed it down the generations!

[Declan Walsh @declanwalsh]

I traveled with @ArletteBashizi to Mongbwalu, the gold mining town at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak that is sweeping northeastern Congo. This is what we found.
https://t.co/gPUrQ9ubsz

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

@RnaudBertrand I looked at how much attention different countries get on different metrics. It's astonishing how little China gets.

This then produces crazy outcomes like being unable to name three living Chinese people
https://t.co/ZLzJO8OZkZ

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

Before I ran the numbers on how much attention different countries got, I was sure lower-income countries would get much less.

What I didn't expect was for China to get so little attention.

Here is NYT coverage compared to population, for example

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

All these charts from my Substack "You're ignoring most of the world."

When our attentional priorities are so out of proportion, it produces results like being unable to name three Chinese people!
https://t.co/0UM3UFcP6V

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

Before I ran the numbers on how much attention different countries got, I was sure lower-income countries would get much less.

What I didn't expect was for China to get so little attention.

Here is NYT coverage compared to population, for example

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

This is genuinely incredible and says SO SO MUCH about the perception of China in the West.

This is the #1 news show in France, and the host - David Pujadas - asks the pundits around the table (a sample of the top media figures in France) if they can name 3 living Chinese people.

That's it: they just need to say the names of 3 living Chinese people, anyone. This should be extremely easy.

Yet not of a single one of them can name a single Chinese beyond Xi Jinping. They do not know a single living Chinese person beyond the president.

That's the level of ignorance of China we're dealing with in the West today, in 2026.

This is the source for the video: https://t.co/9UnWyu63g8 Aired live yesterday 28th of May 2026.

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

And this is all accentuated by travel. China just gets very few visitors!

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

Not discussed enough that many of the biggest recipients of aid were Eastern European countries (many of which then grew impressively).

After entering the EU, Estonia got ~$370 per person each year in EU aid.

Even before the aid cuts, low-income countries got $73/person in aid!

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

We need much more finance flowing to developing countries—according to leading estimates, 1-2% of developed countries' GDP and 3-5% of developing countries' GDP.

The good news: large-scale finance to developing countries has happened before and worked

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

@noah_gordon_ Denilson was another one in that era whose career always turned out better in my video game than in real life

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

I do love that Zohran is genuinely Arsenal obsessed.

Any political consultant would tell him to fill potholes and post about the Knicks but he just can't help himself from penning an Arsenal essay signaling that he deeply knows ball

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

Also, for the uninitiated, Zohran is referring to this chant here:

"What do we think of Tottenham? (Shit!) What do we think of shit? (Tottenham!)"

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

As late 2000s/early 2010s Football Manager fanatic I can confirm Zohran's authenticity

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

Not to get too gender studies but it seems pretty obvious from the popularity of this/North London Forever/You’ll Never Walk Alone that there’s huge pent up male demand for experiencing shared tenderness and sensitivity but they only feel comfortable doing that through sports

[Actu Foot @ActuFoot_]

🚨 Vidéo INCROYABLE des supporters de Hull City chantant « Someone Like You » À L’UNISSON pour célébrer leur montée en Premier League. 🏆😍

Essayez de ne pas avoir les frissons.

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

The fact that another round of debt relief is needed today points to HIPC and MDRI's shortcomings—above all that they left the broader causes of recurring debt crises untouched.

Lots to learn from HIPC/MDRI, and a new and improved version is needed today
https://t.co/18APeVph4X

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

It can be easy to forget how significant Jubilee 2000-inspired debt relief was.

Bono, Muhammad Ali, and Pope John Paul teaming up! Over $100 billion in debt forgiven for 39 countries to enable anti-poverty spending!

My new blog is on HIPC/MDRI and what we can learn from them

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

We need much more finance flowing to developing countries—according to leading estimates, 1-2% of developed countries' GDP and 3-5% of developing countries' GDP.

The good news: large-scale finance to developing countries has happened before and worked

[Tim Hirschel-Burns @TimH_B]

How well did HIPC and MDRI actually work?

In terms of transforming a normally uncoordinated debt system into one that could significantly bring down debt burdens, very well.

For improving health and education? Pretty well.

Longer-term debt sustainability? The weakest part