Friends of African Village Libraries (I post regularly here)- Sortie d’animation avec la Bibliothèque Mobile Pénélope à l’école B de Houndé
- Ghana librarians do a group reading session
- Organisation d’une séance de mots croisés et d’une séance de dessin à la bibliothèque de Karaba
- Appréciations des livres CMH par professeurs du CEG de Maro
- Animation d’une séance de lecture guidée à la bibliothèque de Karaba
- Animation de l’animateur de ABVBF à la bibliothèque de Béréba, Burkina Faso
- Encouragement des élèves de l’école Sainte Thérèse de Houndé à la lecture
- Organisation d’une séance de lecture à voix haute à la bibliothèque de Koho
- Visite du coordonnateur et de l’animateur de ABVBF à la bibliothèque Lumière pour enfants à Houndé
- Une sortie d’animation de la BMP à l’école E de Houndé
Author Archives: mkevane
IGEL 2016 conference: Stephen Briner on parody
An interesting paper at the recent IGEL 2016 conference was by Stephen Briner about detecting and reasoning about parody texts. The question is how easy it is to discern parody in the absence of a referent text or absence of … Continue reading
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Sheila Bair’s take on bondholders
As she thinks back on it, Bair views her disagreements with her fellow regulators as a kind of high-stakes philosophical debate about the role of bondholders. Her perspective is that bondholders should take losses when an institution fails. When the … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching macroeconomics
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Nice profile and interview with Sheila Bair and her role as FDIC chair in 2008 financial crisis
Quite different from Alan Blinder’s portrayal of Bair. As an observer of the financial crisis and its aftermath, I have frankly admired most of what she tried to do. She was tough-minded and straightforward. On financial matters, she seemed to … Continue reading
Posted in Teaching macroeconomics
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Impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on credit ratings agencies
The very broad language of the act seems to have of had some significant impact in agency behavior. In response to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2009, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) in … Continue reading
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My brother Tim Kevane’s law article on… something called the Viking Pump decision
I have little idea of the technicalities here, but I thought that any paragraph starting with “bitter irony” should be highlighted. The bitter irony of the noncumulation provision is that an insured will now be able to designate the tower … Continue reading
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IGEL conference: Perspective taking in literature
Marissa Bertolussi and Peter Dixon reported on an experiment about perspective-taking when reading fiction. The question is how effortful perspective-taking is; the assumption seen sometimes is that perspective-taking is basically effortless. The experiment manipulates, through interruption of the reading experience, … Continue reading
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Emotional arcs of storytelling: Confirmation that some stories are like others
Today, that changes thanks to the work of Andrew Reagan at the Computational Story Lab at the University of Vermont in Burlington and a few pals. These guys have used sentiment analysis to map the emotional arcs of over 1,700 … Continue reading
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57 years ago today, Canto 1 of John Shade’s Pale Fire completed
The poem always gives me the shivers. Especially the stanza I had to learn by heart for Mrs. Kramer’s third grade class in English language arts. We had to stand in front of the class. Yes, she was an odd … Continue reading
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Humans, on Amazon Prime, is the smartest science fiction series in a long time
I strongly recommend Humans. Imagine Never Let Me Go made as a TV series. The synths are complex, their interactions amongst themselves and with humans are complex, the human families are complex. This is not one of those ridiculous sci-fi … Continue reading
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Super interesting story about peer review at the AER, from George Borjas
And this is where things begin to get interesting. Over a month ago, an anonymous post appeared at Economics Job Market Rumors (EJMR), a popular internet forum frequented (I am guessing) by many young economists. This post noted that Family … Continue reading
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Puerto Rico debt situation will be very politically charged
They shouted angrily about “colonialism” and called for a Prexit, or Puerto Rican exit, from the United States. They denounced the “junta” — or federal control board — that will soon direct this island’s failing governance and finances. Late Thursday … Continue reading
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Brexit in standard macroeconomics model
Since I am teaching MBA macroeconomics this summer, here is Brexit in the standard AD-AS model. It ignores the zero lower bound, which complicates things, and also assumes that the short run negative effects we have seen this week persist. … Continue reading
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Jack Rasmus and Alex Field tussle over our current systemic fragility
In the European Economic Review. Jack and Alex are going to have to use polite words to work out their differences. I am not a macroeconomist, so I am not going to spend too much time figuring out for myself … Continue reading
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What Are the Fed’s Stress Tests? Nice primer from The Wall Street Journal
The Federal Reserve is releasing the results of its annual stress tests of big U.S. banks this week and next. Here is what you need to know about the exams. What do the tests assess? A stress test is an … Continue reading
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Local agricultural techniques are not always best, evidence from Burkina Faso
It’s nice to see a randomized trial of three different techniques for planting tree seedlings. The locally developed Zaï technique did not fare well. A similar study is available here. Time for farmers to change? In the Sahel of Africa, … Continue reading
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The funny thing is there seems to be more talk in Burkinabè media about Zida’s malfeasance than Compaoré’s!
Que risque le général Zida ? Il risque deux choses, du point de vue redévabilité de la comptabilité publique il risque d’être poursuivi mise en accusation comme le demande il n’y a longtemps les citoyens. Je pense que si le … Continue reading
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Headwinds: Janet Yellen testifying in House hearing
Asked if government regulation was a headwind to growth, Yellen dodges. Businesses cite regulation as a headwind, she notes. Pressed by Rep. Sean Duffy, Republican of Wisconsin, Yellen adds: “I don’t think it is the most important headwind, it may … Continue reading
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Short documentary on life in Burkina Faso, gold mining and youth and poverty
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Gold keeps on rolling in… Burkina Faso
West African Resources issued a press release saying they had found gold at 175m… their share price quadrupled… from .05 to .20…. wish I were an expert in gold mining press releases and knew what to make of it.
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Immigrants and unemployment in the United States
Interesting question in the first day of macro. Maybe a Trump-effect? First off, immigrants who are legally permitted to work are eligible for unemployment insurance. Second, the Bureau of Labor Statistics does report unemployment numbers for the total population regardless … Continue reading
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Michael Kevane 