Author Archives: mkevane

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About mkevane

Economist at Santa Clara University and Director of Friends of African Village Libraries.

Trinity College AAUP statement on Professor Johnny Williams on Leave

However, we are still troubled that, after a tenured black professor received death threats in response to speaking out against white supremacy on a personal social media page, the administration’s default response was to lend credence to a politically motivated … Continue reading

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Burkina Faso launches 40,000 housing program for $1b

The math here… 40,000 units housing, say, 5 people each, can house 200,000 people.  The population of Burkina Faso is 16 million, and growing at, say, 3% a year.  So every year there are about 500,000 more people in the … Continue reading

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Great reporting on Burkina Faso singer Zougnazagmda

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Dicko Fils Feat Floby – Anani Na – Burkina Faso #lwili

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Bikes for girls really good, laptops for kids “meh”: latest economic development research in AEJ-Applied

From American Economic Journal: Applied Economics Vol. 9 No. 3 July 2017 (11) Technology and Child Development: Evidence from the One Laptop per Child Program Julian Cristia, Pablo Ibarrarán, Santiago Cueto, Ana Santiago and Eugenio Severín This paper presents results … Continue reading

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Puerto Rico fiscal board to meet Friday in San Juan – Caribbean Business

Puerto Rico’s fiscal control board will hold its eighth public meeting Friday, June 30, in the Sheraton Puerto Rico Hotel in San Juan, a spokesman for the board confirmed to Caribbean Business. During the meeting, the panel is expected to … Continue reading

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Puerto Rico bankruptcy rolls along

Puerto Rico, the biggest government in the U.S. to ever go bankrupt, will argue this week that it shouldn’t be treated like a broke business during the proceedings: Its residents, not creditors, should come first.Government lawyers will argue with bondholders … Continue reading

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Habibou Sawadogo – Booyé Doaga – Burkina Faso #lwili

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Andreas Eschbach, Lord of All Things

Well, it is too long. But Andreas Eschbach’s science fiction novel, Lord of All Things, is nevertheless a good read.  The basic premise is pretty standard: What if someone could discover a technology that would end the need for technology.  … Continue reading

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Serpentine pavilion 2017 by Francis Kéré’s

He came up with the idea of making an architectural version of a big tree in Gando, where people could gather in its perforated shade. Its structure is a festival of triangles, with curved walls beneath the orange-ish roof in … Continue reading

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Feist – A Man Is Not His Song

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Light sci-fi viewing on Netflix: The ARQ

I enjoyed it. A time-loop movie that is fairly clever about the loop and how to end the film.

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Nina Simone in Liberia by Katherina Grace Thomas in Guernica

It was a language that Simone spoke fluently. She was forty-one when she first landed at Robertsfield International Airport, her twelve-year-old daughter Lisa in tow, their belongings—clothes, books, records—packed into the belly of a Pan Am jet. Six years had … Continue reading

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Gyimah Gariba, illustrator from Ghana

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Mama, let your babies grow up listening to Kofi Kinaata… and get some empathy

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Mama, don’t let your babies grow up to be fraternity brothers…

Full story in NYT. And for what?  So he could do the same to other pledges in future years? A night that began with laughs and elaborate handshakes quickly devolved into dangerous drunkenness. The pledges were forced to participate in … Continue reading

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DCE William Baah now basically being blamed for death of Captain Mahama

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Past Life (film) by Avi Nesher

Went with S. to see this Israeli movie.  Quite a good drama (OK verging on melodrama).  But since it is about holocaust survivors and their secrets, the melodramatic is actually real.  Some really awful things happened.  The film is self-conscious … Continue reading

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Science fiction illuminating key ideas in social science: Two examples

I was reading The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach, and realized is is a good example of the concept of persistence in economic development.  In this case, the emperor sets thousands of worlds on a persistent path of economic activity … Continue reading

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Manga Art in Kenya

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