With Donald’s Trump US election win, questions are being raised about what this means for global development especially due to his, often disputed, policies regarding  immigration and economic growth . Professor David Hulme, Executive Director of the Global Development Institute, shares his thoughts:

The development implications are profound especially if people like Trump pursue the sort of policies they’ve been talking about.

The last 25 years have been the best 25 years ever for people to improve their lives economically and in terms of education, health and other social indicators. That’s been very much associated with processes of globalisation and people, goods and services being able to move around the world. Perhaps that has impacted on people’s lives in ways that have been negative and that might have been better managed but to try in a way to turn the clocks back is simply not going to happen.

These changes are potentially very damaging for development. We need migrants to ensure that our care and health services work in Europe. The US economy is dependent on the growth that has occurred over the past 20, 30, 40 years.

So, if these policies are leapt into then they will reduce the quality of life, or stop progress, in poorer countries but they will also stop progress in the rich nations of the world.

Find out more about international development from the Global Development Institute