Author Archives: mkevane

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About mkevane

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

Lou Reed’s music, the fun way…. watch him off-stage at the beginning

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I always have to be reminded of this!

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Kaiser Permanente (my health care provider) apparently decides to make a move responding to ACA

If 3 million people signed up to Kaiser, who otherwise didn’t have insurance, we’d be a better country with happier people (having insurance and a doctor available is very reassuring… and not having your neighborhood host fundraisers for insurance-less musicians … Continue reading →

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I was wondering whether any female presidents of Jesuit-Catholic colleges in U.S.? Answer seems to be: No

But those challenges aren’t insurmountable. The ranks of women in the presidency — as well as top administrators, including many in business positions — continue to grow. Women now lead half of the Ivy League, including universities that didn’t admit … Continue reading →

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I cannot wait to read Gene Luen Yang’s new graphic novel

via ‘Boxers & Saints’ & Compassion: Questions For Gene Luen Yang : NPR.

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Very interesting documentary about street musicians in Kinshasa, Congo

Posted in Music | Comments Off on Very interesting documentary about street musicians in Kinshasa, Congo

Are you a liberal who reads the Republican talking point of healthcare.gov disaster, and worries they might be right?

Well, don’t believe their baloney. I just went to Cover California, and in about 30 seconds I could see health insurance plans available for me.*  The premium plans for family of four costs about $1800 per month.  Expensive, but actually … Continue reading →

Posted in United States | 1 Comment

Weekend music (and dancing) from Congo… Fally Ipupa… what a show!

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Pirates… just what West Africa needs

With growth comes well-organized crime? “Pirates, often heavily armed and violent, are targeting vessels and their crews along the Nigerian coast, rivers, anchorages, ports and surrounding waters. In many cases, they ransack the vessels and steal the cargo, usually gas … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy | Comments Off on Pirates… just what West Africa needs

Appreciations of Thomas Sankara often marred by bad economic analysis

26 years ago, on October 15 1987, Thomas Sankara was killed by soldiers loyal to current president Blaise Compaoré.  Mr. Compaoré’s regime has never allowed a full truthful process of accounting for exactly what happened.  Most of Sankara’s companions in … Continue reading →

Posted in Burkina Faso, Economy, Politics | Comments Off on Appreciations of Thomas Sankara often marred by bad economic analysis

Ghana’s Black Stars 5-1 so far against Egypt…

A rout, it seems.

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Bad, bad Mankiw…

I’m teaching using Mankiw’s Macroeconomics 8th edition and on page 138, Chapter 6, he uses an example to illustrate and develop intuition of what is always a problem for students, that capital flows have to equal current account (NX = … Continue reading →

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Budget negotiations… let me get this straight…

At present, according to news reports, the only sticking point is what to do about the medical devices tax (2.3%) which is estimated to raise about $3 b a year, how long the deal should be for (Jan? Feb?), and … Continue reading →

Posted in United States | 2 Comments

Burkina 2015…

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Burkina Faso education policy mistake

Government announces 100,000 solar lamps.  These cost about $10 each, so the is $1 million.  That could have been used to establish and operate for 5-10 years 50 community libraries.  I think effect of that would have greatly exceeded effect … Continue reading →

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‘Duplex’ by Kathryn Davis

Wow… Lynda Barry, one of my favorite cartoonists when I was a young adult, like totally agrees with me.  It’s like I’m in Duplex right now, reading this, because Lynda Barry could be standing inside me. When I finished “Duplex” … Continue reading →

Posted in Book and film reviews | Comments Off on ‘Duplex’ by Kathryn Davis

Quiggin doth protest too much

He doesn’t like the Nobel Prize for Economics. Overall, economics is still at a pre-scientific stage, at least, as the idea of science is exemplified by Physics and Chemistry. Economists have made some important discoveries, and a knowledge of economics … Continue reading →

Posted in Being a teacher | Comments Off on Quiggin doth protest too much

Impending calamity in Puerto Rico, analysis from Reorg Research

From Reorg Research. As a heavily levered U.S. Territory, Puerto Rico has nearly $70 billion worth of debt to which numerous U.S. and foreign financial institutions have heavy exposure. Tangentially connected banks and companies too have suffered from the current … Continue reading →

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Canvas upload grades csv FAQ

This will be my most cited blog post ever!  Yay!  I’ll update as I discover more. As universities and academics switch to Canvas infrastructure, here’s what I just found out…  Don’t believe Canvas about how to upload grades from csv. … Continue reading →

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Kathryn Davis’ Duplex… thoughts while reading….

NPR’s book reviewer Roscrans Baldwin (huh?  is that a great name or what for a book critic?) talked about this book early September, so when it arrived in libraries I requested it.  I’m more than halfway through and it lives … Continue reading →

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