Development Accounting, but the kind done by Accountants not Macroeconomists David McKenzie April 06, 2026 This page in: English © 2026 World Bank Group,

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/impactevaluations/development-accounting--but-the-kind-done-by-accountants-not-mac When economists hear accounting and development together, they probably think first of Development Accounting. This is a descriptive diagnostic exercise done by macroeconomists which tries to decompose income differences across countries into components like education, physical capital, and TFP. Instead, today I want to talk about accounting research relevant to developing countries. The accounting and development forum is organized by a group of accounting professors at leading business schools, with a “mission is to put more accounting into development, and more development into accounting”. I attended their opening virtual workshop, and was invited to be a speaker in their second workshop, joint with AFFE, a group doing field experiments in accounting and finance. I thought I’d share some of what they are up to, and note that they are very much interested also in interdisciplinary collaborations. © 2026 World Bank Group,