Category: Development
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Pragmatic Optimism
A talk by Dean Karlan of Innovations for Poverty Action and More than Good Intentions fame. Kind of an introduction to his work (aka IPA and his book). Good stuff if you’ve got 20 minutes.
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The Challenges of Simple Problems
Book Review: The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty, Nina Munk It is hard to come up with something to say about Nina Munk’s magnificent book that hasn’t already been said. The sincerity of this statement is proven by the fact that those very words have already been said. Due to this reality and…
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The Aid Debate is Growing Up
Last week was “aid week” on Oxfam’s From Poverty to Power blog and one thing is clear: the aid debate has grown up. No longer are we arguing over the efficacy of distributing insecticide mosquito nets for free (thanks J-PAL), we are now actually moving somewhere productive and confronting real issues. Nicola Mclvor lists some…
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Wealth and GDP: Intangible Tangibles
Something absolutely crazy happened earlier this month! It sounds like it should be big news, but it wasn’t. Nigeria’s economy grew 89% overnight! Now Nigeria, not South Africa, possesses the championship belt for largest economy in Africa.
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The “New” Science of Scarcity
The puzzle with the “development puzzle” is we’ve been asking the wrong questions. Or rather, asking questions in the wrong way. One of the largest innovations in engineering in the last century has been “fault tolerant engineering”; the idea of designing machines and products to minimize the potential mistakes humans may make. This innovation has…
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Rwanda 20 Years
It has been 20 years since the start of perhaps 100 of history’s darkest days. I was only 3 at the time, hopelessly unaware of world events. Over the weekend I mentioned to a collogue here in Kenya that Monday is the 20 year “anniversary” of the Rwandan Genocide. He, being much older than I,…
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The [RTC] for His Glory
I have (again) guest blogged in the blog of my colleague/boss/mentor. The Story RTC for His Glory If you want to read more about randomized control trials, how they work, why some people don’t like them, and why some people like them; read more here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or here.
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Escaping Death [in the Tropics]
It started after one of those nice conversations you have with someone you’ll (probably) never see again. We both exchanged pleasantries sharing about our personal histories and goals for the future. After a brief discussion about malaria and the risk (or lack there of) of contracting malaria in Kitale, it happened.
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The “Good” of Voluntourism
The problem with “The Problem with Little White Girls (and Boys)” is most people, maybe even Pippa Biddle herself, misunderstand what Pippa Biddle is writing. First, to get this elephant of an issue out of the way, the title of Pippa’s piece is grossly misleading. “Little White Girls (and Boys)” is essentially used as a…
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Links I Like [CfBD]
This month’s list of Links I Like will be dedicated to the smashing new development blog, The Campaign for Boring Development. Inspired by Marc F. Bellemare’s piece in Foreign Affairs entitled Development Bloat: How Mission Creep Harms the Poor. (P.S. Marc, if you are reading this, I’ve applied to your program at the U, show me…