Category Archives: Burkina Faso

Valeda Dent dissertation defense at Palmer School of Information at Long Island University

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

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Why is it so hard to make a straightforward twoway table of means in R?

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

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Small Arms Survey’s Arms Flows and Holdings in South Sudan

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

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In which I am validated by Tyler Cowen

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

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What MBA students need to learn… enough to understand “Why Netflix Never Implemented The Algorithm That Won”

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

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from Econbrowser: Some Implications of the Trade Release

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

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Seth’s Blog review of Gelman and Fung review of Levitt and Dubner: How “Wrong” is Freakonomics?

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

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Sex ratios varying by soil type? Really? I have not read it yet.

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

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Great war intrigue reported on Malijet… the real game of thrones in Azawad

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

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Trouble with the Mali transition already after only a couple days… the soldiers like where they are, what else is new?

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

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My colleague Helen Popper’s book reviewed… Pacific Horticulture : California Native Gardening: A Month-by-Month Guide

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

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Presidents of Jesuit universities largely take 0 salaries… hmmm… get what we pay for, or admirable public service?

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

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An angry Menzie Chinn takes on Ed Lazear… uh oh this seems personal…

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

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The Oster-Hepatitis B sex ratio thing is still instructional – article by Andrew Gelman and Kaiser Fung

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

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Tyler Cowen on the Hong Kong versus SIngapore growth pattern

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

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Presidential amnesty and constitutional role for chiefs in Burkina Faso

“Le Conseil a été informé d’un projet de loi portant modification de la Constitution. Les innovations majeures portent entre autres sur : la constitutionnalisation de la chefferie coutumière et traditionnelle, du genre, du Médiateur du Faso et du Conseil supérieur … Continue reading

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Not sure about how many levels of irony are here now….

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Fastest return to order ever? Wow… could we please have access to the magic words, for future use?

Le capitaine Sanogo, chef de la junte malienne qui a pris le pouvoir le 22 mars a annoncé, ce vendredi 6 avril, la signature d’un accord-cadre avec le représentant du médiateur burkinabè pour la crise malienne Djibril Bassolé. Lors d’une … Continue reading

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Dramatic account of ATT’s escape from Presidential palace, from Jeuneafrique-Malijet

Koulouba est au sommet d’une butte. Il n’y a qu’une seule voie d’accès. Or, les putschistes tiennent cette route. Il ne reste qu’une solution : descendre à pied la colline par-derrière, en direction du quartier de Dar Salam. C’est là … Continue reading

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Vera Brosgol makes fun of economics in Anya’s Ghost

I loved reading this quite charming graphic novel, about difference and courage….  More about Vera Brosgol is here.    

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