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Dr. William D. Savedoff - Curriculum Vitae

Experience

2004-present   Senior Partner, Social Insight, Bath, Maine USA

2019-2021  Principal Health Specialist, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC

2010-2019   Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC

2008-2010       Visiting Fellow, Center for Global Development, Washington, DC

2007-2008       Non-Resident Fellow, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC

2001-2004       Senior Health Economist, World Health Organization, Geneva

1991-2001       Senior Economist & Economist, Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC

1989-1991       Visiting Researcher, IPEA/Rio de Janeiro 

 Education

Boston University, Ph.D. in Economics, 1992

Doctoral Thesis: "Regional Wage Differences in Brazil's Urban Labor Markets"

Boston University, M.A. in Economics, 1986.

Harvard University, A.B. in Social Studies, Magna Cum Laude, 1982.

 Publications - Journals and Articles

Yazbeck, Abdo S., William D. Savedoff, William C. Hsiao, Joe Kutzin, Agnès Soucat, Ajay Tandon, Adam Wagstaff, and Winnie Chi-Man Yip. "The Case Against Labor-Tax-Financed Social Health Insurance for Low-And Low-Middle-Income Countries: A summary of recent research into labor-tax financing of social health insurance in low-and low-middle-income countries." Health Affairs 39, no. 5 (2020): 892-897.

Savedoff, William D. "Why do societies ever produce common goods for health?." Health Systems & Reform 5, no. 4 (2019): 402-405.

Julia Raifman, Felix Lam, Janeen Madan Keller, Alexander Radunsky & William Savedoff. 2018. “How well are aid agencies evaluating programs? An assessment of the quality of global health evaluations,” Journal of Development Effectiveness, published online March 21, 2018.

Mackey, Tim Ken; Jillian Clare Kohler; William Savedoff; Frank Vogl; Maureen Lewis; James Sale; Joshua Michaud; Taryn Vian. 2016. “The disease of corruption: views on how to fight corruption to advance 21st century global health goals.” BMC Medicine, 14:149. 

Savedoff, William D. and Peter C. Smith. 2016. “Measuring Governance: Accountability, Management and Research,” Ch. 4 in Scott L. Greer, Matthias Wismar, and Josep Figueras, eds. Strengthening Health System Governance: Better Policies, Stronger Performance. Berkshire, England: Open University Press.

Savedoff, William D. 2015. “A Better Model for Foreign Aid.” Current History, 114(775): 316-321. November.

Levine, Ruth and William Savedoff. 2015. “Aid at the frontier: building knowledge collectively.” Journal of Development Effectiveness, 7(3):275-289.

Fan, Victoria Y., and William D. Savedoff. 2014. "The Health Financing Transition: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Evidence." Social Science & Medicine, 105:112-121.

Savedoff, William D., David de Ferranti, Amy L. Smith and Victoria Y. Fan. 2012. “Political and Economic Aspects of the Transition to Universal Health Coverage.” The Lancet, 380(9845):924-932. September 8.

Savedoff, William D. and Karen Grépin. 2012. “Health Sector Corruption in Ethiopia.” Chapter 2 in Janelle Plummer, ed. Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia: Perceptions, Realities, and the Way Forward for Key Sectors. Washington, DC: World Bank.

Savedoff, William D. and Hernan L. Fuenzalida-Puelma. 2010. “Promoting accountability in health care financing institutions,” Chapter 13 in Joseph Kutzin, Cheryl Cashin and Melitta Jakab, eds. Implementing health financing reform: Lessons from countries in transition. World Health Organization on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.

Birdsall, Nancy and William D. Savedoff with Ayah Mahgoub and Kate Vyborny. 2010. Cash on Delivery: A New Approach to Foreign Aid with An Application to Primary Schooling. Center for Global Development: Washington, DC.

Vian, Taryn, William Savedoff and Harald Mathisen, eds. 2010. Anticorruption in the Health Sector: Strategies for Transparency and Accountability. Kumarian Press, Sterling, VA. 

Grepin, Karen A. and William D. Savedoff. 2009. “10 best resources on ... health workers in developing countries.” Health Policy and Planning. 24(5):1-4. 

Savedoff, William D and Pablo Gottret, eds. 2008. Governing Mandatory Health Insurance: Learning from Experience. World Bank, Washington, DC. 

Savedoff, William D, Mariana Alfonso, and Suzanne Duryea. 2008. “Getting a Pulse on Health Quality.” Ch. 5 in Eduardo Lora, coord. Beyond Facts: Understanding Quality of Life. Cambridge & London: Harvard University Press. 

Savedoff, William D. 2007. “What Should a Country Spend on Health Care?” Health Affairs 26(4): 1-9.  

Sekhri, Neelam and William D. Savedoff. 2006. “Regulating private health insurance to serve the public interest: policy issues for developing countries.” The International Journal of Health Planning and Management 21(4):357-392. 

Savedoff, William D. and Karen Hussman. 2006. “Why Are Health Systems Prone to Corruption?” Chapter 1 in Global Corruption Report 2006: Corruption and Health. Pluto Press and Transparency International, London and Ann Arbor, MI.

Sekhri, Neelam and W. D. Savedoff, 2005. “Private Health Insurance: Implications for Developing Countries.” Health and Ageing. No. 12. April.

James, Chris, Guy Carrin, William D. Savedoff and P. Hanvoravongchai. 2005. “Clarifying Efficiency-Equity Tradeoffs through Explicit Criteria, with a Focus on Developing Countries.” Health Care Analysis 13(1):33-51. March.

Sekhri, Neelam and William D. Savedoff. 2005. “Private Health Insurance: Implications for Developing Countries.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 83(2): 127-134. Feb.

Savedoff, William D. 2004. “Is there a case for social insurance?”  Health Policy & Planning 19(3):183-184.

Savedoff, William D. 2004. “40th Anniversary: Kenneth Arrow and the Birth of Health.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 82(2). February.

Giuffrida, Antonio, Roberto Iunes and William D. Savedoff. 2002. "Occupational Risks in Latin America and the Caribbean: Economic and Health Dimensions of the Problem.” Health Policy and Planning 17(3). September.

Di Tella, Rafael and William D. Savedoff. eds. 2001. Diagnosis: Corruption. Fraud in Latin America's Public Hospitals. Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC.

Savedoff, William D. and T. Paul Schultz. eds. 2000. Wealth from Health: Linking Social Investments to Earnings in Latin America. Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC.

Zeballos J.L., W. Savedoff , G. Beeharry, R. Flores , and K. Cavanaugh. 2000. “A roundtable discussion on international cooperation in health reform in the Americas.” Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica. 8(1-2):140-6. Jul-Aug.

Savedoff, William D. and Pablo T. Spiller, eds. 1999. Spilled Water: Institutional Commitment in the Provision of Water Services. Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC.

Savedoff, William D. ed. 1998. Organization Matters: Agency Problems in Health and Education in Latin America. Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC.

Inter-American Development Bank. 1996. Economic and Social Progress in Latin America: Making Social Services Work. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. 1996. (Coordinator and Chief Author of Special Section). http://www.iadb.org/oce/ipes

Savedoff, William D. 1995. Wages, Labour and Regional Development in Brazil. Aldershot, England: Avebury Press.

Savedoff, William D. 1991. "Wage dynamics in urban Brazil: evidence of regional segmentation or national markets?" Revista de Econometria. 11(2).

Savedoff, William D. 1990. "Os diferenciais regionais de salarios no Brasil: segmentacao versus dinamismo da demanda." Pesquisa e Planejamento Economica. Rio de Janeiro 

Publications - Working Papers and Others

IDB. “Health Sector Framework Document.” 2021. Document GN-2735-12. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank. April. [William Savedoff, Team leader].

Savedoff, William, and Ruth Lopert. 2020. "Sugar, Rum, and Tobacco: Domestic Resource Mobilization for Low-Income Countries Through Excise Taxes." Center for Global Development Policy Paper No. 164. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William. 2019. What Is" Country Ownership"? A Formal Exploration of the Aid Relationship. Center for Global Development Working Paper No. 519. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William D. 2016. “A Global Offer for Learning (GOL): Based on Experiences with Paying for Results,” CGD Policy Paper 095. CGD Policy Paper 092. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William D. 2016. “Cash on Delivery Aid for Energy,” CGD Policy Paper 092. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William D., Amanda Glassman and Janeen Madan. 2016. “Global Health, Aid and Corruption: Can We Escape the Scandal Cycle?” CGD Policy Paper 086. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William. 2016. “Anti-Corruption Strategies in Foreign Aid: From Controls to Results.” CGD Policy Paper 076. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William. 2016. “How the Green Climate Fund Could Promote REDD+ through a Cash on Delivery Instrument: Issues and Options.” CGD Policy Paper 072. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William and Albert Alwang. 2015. "The Single Best Health Policy in the World: Tobacco Taxes." CGD Policy Paper 062. Washington DC: Center for Global Development.

Perakis, Rita and William D. Savedoff. 2015. “Does Results-Based Aid Change Anything? Pecuniary Interests, Attention, Accountability and Discretion in Four Case Studies,” CGD Policy Paper 052, Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. February.

ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2015. “Results-Based Aid in the Energy Sector: An Analytical Guide.” Technical Report 005/15 written by Vivid Economics and William Savedoff for Oliver Knight. Washington, DC: World Bank. 

Seymour, Frances, Nancy Birdsall and William Savedoff. 2015. “The Indonesia-Norway REDD+ Agreement: A Glass Half-Full.”CGD Policy Paper 56. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. 

Birdsall, Nancy, William D. Savedoff and Frances Seymour. 2014. “The Brazil-Norway Agreement with Performance-Based Payments for Forest Conservation: Success, Challenges, and Lessons.” CGD Brief, Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. August.

Savedoff, William D. 2016. “How the Green Climate Fund Could Promote REDD+ through a Cash on Delivery Instrument: Issues and Options.” CGD Policy Paper 072. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development. January.

Kenny, Charles and William D. Savedoff. 2013. “Can Results-Based Payments Reduce Corruption?” Working Paper 345. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William D. with Ricardo Bitrán, David de Ferranti, Victoria Y. Fan, Alberto Holly, Rodrigo Moreno-Serra, Priyanka Saksena, Amy L. Smith, Peter C. Smith, and Ke Xu. 2012. “Transitions in Health Financing and Policies for Universal Health Coverage: Final Report of the Transitions in Health Financing Project.” Washington, DC: Results for Development Institute.

Savedoff, William D. 2012. “Global Government, Mixed Coalitions, and the Future of International Cooperation.” CGD Essay. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William D. and Katherine Douglas Martel. 2011. “Cash on Delivery Aid for Health: What Indicators Would Work Best?” Working Paper 275. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Savedoff, William D. and Amy L. Smith. 2011. “Achieving Universal Health Coverage: Learning from Chile, Japan, Malaysia and Sweden.” Working Paper. Washington, DC: Results for Development Institute.

Savedoff, William D. 2011. “Incentive Proliferation? Making Sense of a New Wave of Development Programs.” A CGD Essay. Center for Global Development: Washington, DC. 

Savedoff, William D., Ruth Levine and Nancy Birdsall, Co-chairs. 2006. “When Will We Ever Learn? Improving Lives through Impact Evaluation.” Report of the Evaluation Gap Working Group. Center for Global Development, Washington, DC. May.

Sekhri, Neelam, William D. Savedoff and Shivani Tripathi. 2004. "Regulating Private Insurance to Serve the Public Interest: Policy Issues for Developing Countries.” Paper presented at the 11th Annual Conference of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab Countries, Iran and Turkey (ERF), Beirut, Lebanon. December 14-16, 2004.

Journals

Editorial Board Member of Health Policy & Planning (2004-2010)

Reviewer for:

    • The Lancet
    • Social Science & Medicine
    • International Journal for Quality in Health Care
    • WHO Bulletin
    • World Development

International Commissions, Panels and Associations

  • Ministerial Advisory Committee on National Health Insurance for South Africa
  • Peer Review Committee, America’s Society/Council of the Americas
  • Editorial Advisory Panel, Global Corruption Report 2006, Transparency International
  • Evaluation Gap Working Group of the Global Health Policy Research Network
  • Working Group member for Millions Saved
  • Member of Working Group 1, Commission on Macroeconomics and Health
  • American Economic Association
  • International Health Economics Association

Languages

English, Portuguese, Spanish, French