Author Archives: mkevane

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About mkevane

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

More kids go to school with cash transfer programs that make kids go to school?

However, using the categorization above, the picture is much clearer. In a random-effects meta-regression model with effect size as the dependent variable and this moderator describing the ‘intensity of conditionalities’ as the only independent variable, the coefficient estimate is large … Continue reading

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Does Great Literature Make Us Better People?

Gregory Currie, author of this well-commented oped in New York Times, appears in the oped to have little interest in actually following through…. the piece comes across as lazy philosophy, making a trivial point and dressing it up as something … Continue reading

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Why am I so skeptical about the cost – benefit outcome of the MCA rural land tenure project?

To me, after having seen the Programme Nationale de Gestion de Terroirs (PNGT), it seems like more of the same: a huge chunk of the budget goes into the shadowplay of per diems and training sessions, and everyone knows that … Continue reading

Posted in Economy | Comments Off on Why am I so skeptical about the cost – benefit outcome of the MCA rural land tenure project?

Stylish and sexy… that’s us!

Elliot, Leslie and I were just at Villa Kaya four days ago… Elliot in bathing suit having a sprite, Leslie and I very dusty… we didn’t feel…. no, we were, people kept glancing over at our table… I may even … Continue reading

Posted in Burkina Faso, Culture | Comments Off on Stylish and sexy… that’s us!

Respect? Mais pour qui?

Ancien président du Sénégal, maintenant secrétaire général de l’Organisation internationale de la francophonie, mais il semble ne pas avoir lu aucun roman africain depuis ses jours de collegien… Et Mabanckou?  Monénembo? Kourouma? Khadra? Achebe?  Oubliez-les… chez M. Diouf c’est toujours … Continue reading

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Elliot and Leslie help Peter van Dingenen in a village health clinic for kids

Dr. Peter is a great, very dedicated, public health social entrepreneur.  Doing all the good stuff.  Leslie and Elliot were very grateful to have the chance to help out in a really efficient and effective way.

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Not Africa… Burkina Faso, specifically Bobo-Dioulasso… you find the weirdest things on the web

Jacques Resch (1945 – ) is a French born artist who lives in Africa. He began painting as a child. At around three or four years of age, his mother entered his drawings in a contest where he won first … Continue reading

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Pranab Bardhan pulls his punch (a lot?)

Those studies, largely performed in the 1970s and ’80s, used data to discuss how land tenure (say, sharecropping) affects farm productivity, how different types of labor relations in agriculture affect wages and employment of poor workers, how interlocking land-labor-credit relations … Continue reading

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Is It Better to Walk or Run? We have no idea is the correct answer, irresponsible NY Times reporting notwithstanding

Textbook! Let me see if I understand… a self-selected sample of walkers and runners, with no randomized treatments at all, is being “plumbed” by “new science” to make generalizations for people who are neither walkers nor runners already….  And then … Continue reading

Posted in United States | Comments Off on Is It Better to Walk or Run? We have no idea is the correct answer, irresponsible NY Times reporting notwithstanding

Nice analysis that about says it all re. Pres. succession in 2015

Mais le Burkina n’est pas le Sénégal. La société civile n’y est pas aussi soudée contre le pouvoir – le président jouit du soutien des autorités religieuses et de la chefferie, sans parler du patronat -, et l’opposition n’y a … Continue reading

Posted in Politics | Comments Off on Nice analysis that about says it all re. Pres. succession in 2015

Jean-Pierre Bejot brings people back to earth about Cote d’Ivoire

L’ex-ministre de l’économie, Moïse Koumoué Koffi (« Politique économique et ajustement structurel en Côte d’Ivoire », L’Harmattan, Paris, 1994) et, avant lui, Samir Amin (« Le développement du capitalisme en Côte d’Ivoire », Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1967), ont analysé … Continue reading

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Down to a more reasonable $33,000 per car – Compte rendu du Conseil des ministres du 28 mai 2013

Better than the $100,000 cars…. almost reasonable.  I still think the country ranked #174 out of 178 in HDI could buy $10,000 cars for government officials to go about their business in what is essentially a single city.   Heck we’ve … Continue reading

Posted in Economy | Comments Off on Down to a more reasonable $33,000 per car – Compte rendu du Conseil des ministres du 28 mai 2013

No shortage of dumb aid and dumb reporting

Actually it isn’t that hard to do good.  About the same as not being dumb.  FAVL is run by two PhDs… come and report on us, we dare you.  Whassa matter, Ouagadougou too scaaaary???? My ten year old can handle … Continue reading

Posted in Economy | Comments Off on No shortage of dumb aid and dumb reporting

Laugh or cry?

I was reminded of what a colleague who had left a university after 23 years replied when I asked him if it was difficult to do. He said, “It was like checking out of a motel.” via Moving On – … Continue reading

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Yes, yes but what is the cost-effectiveness? Has the impact been verified?

When I was in the sixth form we were taken on a school visit to see Ted Hughes at the Yorkshire Playhouse. I remember sitting in the front row and tittering as the tall man stepped out from the curtain … Continue reading

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What does the ideal school look like?

Secondary students perform at locations throughout the school for the primary students and parents.  International School of Ouagadougou.  Impressive!

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Great just what ordinary people in South Sudan need…

Une autre personnalité cultive depuis de nombreuses années des relations ambigües avec le Soudan : Erik Prince. Le fondateur de la société militaire privée Blackwater, controversée pour ses méthodes musclées, notamment en Irak, s’est reconverti dans le conseil après avoir … Continue reading

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e-commerce in Nigeria

Two startups offering delivery via e-commerce…. 12 million people in Lagos is a lot of potential customers… A l’heure où les économies africaines comme celle du Nigeria décollent, les consommateurs et une classe moyenne émergente participent de plus en plus … Continue reading

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Dictator Game Results Artifacts? Duh?

And that is what Winking and Mizer did in a paper now in press and available online (paywall) in Evolution and Human Behavior, using participants, fittingly enough, in Las Vegas. Here’s what they did. Two confederates were needed. The first, … Continue reading

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This movie sounds so good why can’t I be at Cannes right now?

C’est l’histoire d’un jeune que je connais qui a été menacé avec un pistolet pour cause d’histoire de petit trafic de drogue et qui a failli en fait se faire tuer. C’est ça l’histoire. C’est parti de cette histoire vraiment … Continue reading

Posted in Culture | Comments Off on This movie sounds so good why can’t I be at Cannes right now?