The department is a lively community that is recognised internationally as one of the top centres for research and teaching in development studies.

Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our courses offer excellent training for a career in international development or for advanced study, and attract students of the highest calibre from across the world.
“I had waited for 10 years before my dream to study in Oxford became a reality and the experience was truly beyond expectation”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Our students are taught to develop as critical and independent thinkers and when they leave us they are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to bring about real change.
“My time at Oxford strengthened my critical analysis and provided me with a unique interdisciplinary grounding in history, politics and economics that has equipped me well in dealing with public policy issues and program development strategy.”
Congratulations to Professor Christopher Woodruff, who has been awarded the 2019 Victor Urquidi Prize in Economics by the Collegio de Mexico with his colleagues Joyce Sadka and Enrique Seira of ITAM for their research on the functioning of Mexico's labour courts.
The prize was awarded for their paper, Information and Bargaining Through Agents: Experimental Evidence from Mexico’s Labor Courts.
The paper sought to shed light on the causes of the heavy backlog of cases in Mexico's labour courts and the effect of different interventions. The researchers found that providing plaintiffs with information on predicted case outcomes and asking them to meet with court conciliators increased settlement rates. Drawing on the results, the Mexican government reformed the national labour law in May 2019.
The 200,000-peso prize is awarded annually to a paper in English or Spanish, authored or co-authored by a Mexican national, on a topic related to economics and of relevance to Mexico.