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.”
A new paper co-authored by Professor Xiaolan Fu investigates the impact of industrial robot adoption on inclusive growth, based on labour market evidence from a cross-country panel dataset of 74 economies between 2004 and 2016.
It finds that the adoption of industrial robots is associated with significant gains in labour productivity and total employment in developed economies, while such effects are insignificant in developing countries.
Increased robot adoption is related to a significantly lower labour share of GDP in developing economies but not in developed countries.
Overall, in both developed and developing economies, increased robot adoption is linked with significantly higher income inequality, although there is no evidence of technological unemployment.
Furthermore, the employment of both male and female workers is positively associated with the adoption of industrial robots in developed economies, although females benefit slightly more. In developing countries, however, only those with middle or advanced levels of education benefit from the diffusion of robots.
Xiaoqing (Maggie) Fu, Qun Bao, Hongjun Xie and Xiaolan Fu (2020) 'Diffusion of Industrial Robots and Inclusive Growth: Labour Market Evidence from Cross-Country Data', Journal of Business Research DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.05.051