The Development Research Institute is devoted to research on the economic development and growth of poor countries. Poor countries include all those besides the industrialized nations, i.e. Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Asia. The Institute includes both macroeconomic and microeconomic research, and both theory and empirics. The Institute is devoted to high standards of research, including publication in peer reviewed journals, scientific methodology, and creative and skeptical inquiry. It also includes research on the relationships between rich and poor nations, and between international organizations/aid agencies and poor nations. The Institute does not engage in any kind of advocacy for particular causes or organizations. The co-directors of the Development Research Institute are William Easterly and Yaw Nyarko.