Category: Uncategorized
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IPUMS FAQs Blog Series
I spend some of my time (technically half my time, but #gradstudentlife) working as a Graduate Research Assistant at the Minnesota Population Center primarily with the Integrated Public Use Microdata (IPUMS) Project. Most of my work is with the User Support Team helping users figure out how to make use of IPUMS data and fixing…
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Mapping the World’s Immigration Flows
Super cool mapping of the world’s immigration flows, country-by-country. This map shows the estimated net immigration (inflows minus outflows) by origin and destination country between 2010 and 2015. Blue circles = positive net migration (more inflows). Red circles = negative net migration (more outflows). Each yellow dot represents 1,000 people. On original website, you can zoom in…
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Links I Like [9.16]
Is globalization bad for the global poor? A nice write-up on Dercon and Blattman’s “randomizing sweatshops” study in Ethiopia. Why is it so hard for academics and NGOs to work together? (and what can be done about it) Who is the worst culprit of using international development jargon in their reports? (and why we all should use less…
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Not Your Father’s Aid Agency – “The Lab” [Part 2]
This is the second in a series of posts about my experience at the U.S. Global Development Lab. Read part 1 here. This second post highlights the Lab’s commitment to impact and evidence. I’ve written before that the lack of a reliable and rigorous evidence base is largely to blame for the observation that spending on…
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Links I Like [4.16]
The new economics of trade or why supporters of Trump and Sanders have run out of patience “I’m objective, you’re biased” – The Delusions of Objectivity What if we just gave poor people a basic income for life? We are about to test that Does Child Sponsorship Pay-off in Adulthood? (Spoiler: yes!) The World Bank…
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The presidential election we should be talking about
Today – March 15, 2016 – Myanmar (formally Burma) elected their new president. This event is significant and interesting for several reasons. This is Myanmar’s first president without a military background since 1962. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and leader of the majority political party (the NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally unable to become…
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Links I like [12.15]
In development, plan for sailboats not trains Michael Clemons on The Economic Case for Migration Restrictions How Behavioral Science Can Help in International Development Adele’s “Hello” covered in Swahili How to rescue people from deep poverty—and why the best methods work
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Top Posts from 2015
Another year has gone by and I’m still blogging. Here are a list of the top posts from the past year, listed in order of popularity. 1. 7 Thoughts on Syrian Refugees 2. Poor Behavior: 3 Myths about Behavioral Economics 3. [Book Review] Africa: Why Economists Get it Wrong 4. The Economics of Climate Change and Water in Kenya…
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Merry Christmas!
Via the Development Research Institute at New York University, “Happy Holidays to Ordinary People”: Cyrenius, the governor of Syria, was excited about the new regional development plan he had prepared for the area covering Syria, Galilee, and Judea. Cyrenius had already ascended rapidly through the Roman bureaucracy, but he expected this new program meeting the Roman…
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The Economics of “It’s a Wonderful Life”
That’s an okay explanation, but I think there is an even more profound lesson about economics woven into this classic movie. It’s a topic I interact with regularly and one that is often misunderstood. In the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” George Bailey gets the outrageous opportunity to see what the world would be like…
Jeffrey R. Bloem 