Author Archives: mkevane

I hope the panelists take a critical perspective not just an inspirational one.  I have not read the book… is that wrong? (Kristof is regularly excoriated, often for good reason, by many, including Wronging Rights). Half the Sky:  Turning Oppression … Continue reading →

I shared this with my colleagues… the quote going around is that it is “easier to move a cemetery than to change a university curriculum”… LOL. There are a lot of topics that the analytics theme embraces (think about all … Continue reading →

My colleague Alex Field spoke a couple weeks ago at the Legatum Institute in London.  Here’s what they had to say about his work: His book, A Great Leap Forward, is a re-examination of the history of US economic growth … Continue reading →

My kids and I have been watching Heroes over the past two months.  It is so much better than the television I watched in Puerto Rico growing up (Kojak, Petrocelli, Mannix, Hawaii 5-0, Luis Vigoreaux Presenta, etc.).  We are enjoying … Continue reading →

                Brad DeLong posted this image today, perhaps copies from paper by Christina Romer, and since we were talking about NAIRU in class on Thursday….

I participated on a dissertation defense for Valeda Dent, who has been one of a handful of researchers interested over the years in rural libraries in Africa.  She nicely defended her dissertation today: “An Exploratory Study of the Impact of … Continue reading →

I mean, this code works, but it gives you the number, not the *table*, which would greatly reduce the cutting and pasting… allchildren = read.csv(“C:\\Data\\Econ 135 Gender\\ps_1__all_children.csv”) names(allchildren ) allchildren$recent <- as.numeric(decadeborn >75) chsizenew  <- chsize chsizenew[chsize>= 5] <- 5 … Continue reading →

The Small Arms Survey’s Sudan/South Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) is pleased to announce the release of a new Issue Brief: Reaching for the Gun: Arms Flows and Holdings in South Sudan This Issue Brief reviews arms flows and … Continue reading →

“Vegetarians are more virtuous than the rest of us; they should be admired.” via Marginal Revolution — Small steps toward a much better world..

HT: Marginal Revolution.  From Why Netflix Never Implemented The Algorithm That Won The Netflix $1 Million Challenge | Techdirt. You probably recall all the excitement that went around when a group finally won the big Netflix $1 million prize in … Continue reading →

That being said, I think the important variable — that we have control over — is the exchange rate. Figure 5 plots the real value of the dollar against a broad basket of currencies.tr5.gifFigure 5: Log real trade weighted value … Continue reading →

In the latest issue of American Scientist, Andrew Gelman (an old friend) and Kaiser Fung criticize Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics by Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner (who wrote about my work). Although the article is titled “Freakonomics: What Went Wrong?” none … Continue reading →

From a new paper by Eliana Carranza. The female population deficit in India has been explained in a number of ways, but the great heterogeneity in the deficit across districts within India still remains an open question. This paper argues … Continue reading →

En début de soirée, le colonel-major réussit à faire passer son message – une fausse déclaration de ralliement au MNLA – à la radio internationale. Puis les 204 militaires « sudistes » sont désarmés. Mais quand Ag Khabi demande que … Continue reading →

Good reporting from Abdoulaye Diakité: Le ton a été donné par le chef de la junte lui-même Amadou Haya Sanogo le lundi dernier lors d’une conférence de presse de « rectification ». Il a presque prédit un retour du CNRDRE … Continue reading →

In recent years, California gardeners have been presented with a number of excellent books on the state’s native flora and its value for gardeners and landscape professionals. …. Helen Popper has chosen a different approach in her delightful California Native … Continue reading →

These data show the compensation received in 2009 by 519 chief executives at 482 private, nonprofit colleges in the United States.  The Chronicle compiled compensation data from the Internal Revenue Service’s Form 990, which is filed by most major nonprofit … Continue reading →

Lazear writes: Indeed, that was the expectation [that the economy was in rapid catch-up mode and would eventually regain all that had been lost]. As economist Victor Zarnowitz of the University of Chicago argued many years ago, the strength of … Continue reading →

Andrew Gelman and Kaiser Fung have an article on Freakonomics in American Scientist. My favorite part was the story of Emily Oster and her theory of Hepatitis B: Monica Das Gupta is a World Bank researcher who, along with others … Continue reading →

From 1992, the paper is here note by the way an interesting written comment from Paul Krugman at the end. The basic story was that Hong Kong and Singapore had obtained their prosperity by two different paths. Hong Kong had … Continue reading →