Merry Christmas

I hope everyone is enjoying time with family and friends. In case you were still shopping - Nicholas Kristof has some gift ideas.

Still Looking for a job?

Oxfam

Microfinance

Development

A warning we should heed - (sounds familiar)

The message of Islam is that pursuit of money for its own sake is unnatural, inhumane, and will lead us to catastrophe.

In God We Trust??

An interesting take on faith and development. I really like it when former political leaders do something extraordinary after they leave office.

Can Aid Work?

Of course it can, and here are five small interventions that can transform the world.

Not just me...

I read this post and thought you might be interested in seeing how other economists think about investments in human capital.

notice the simple picture

Development Links

Here is the Link to Half the sky.

Women and Children

Here's what Duflo and Sachs had to say at the UN.

small change?? - REALLY???

Here is a quote from the Banerjee, Duflo et al. paper that was cited in the Small Change article from the Boston Globe.

On balance our results show signi…ficant and not insubstantial impact on both how many new
businesses get started and the pro…titability of pre-existing businesses. We also do see signifi…cant
impacts on the purchase of durables, and especially business durables. However there is no
impact on average consumption, although the effects are heterogenous, and as we will argue
later, there may well be a delayed positive effect on consumption. Nor is there any discernible
effect on any of the human development outcomes, though, once again, it is possible that things
will be different in the long run.

So, business profits are up, new businesses are started, and durable goods acquisition increases. Is this really "small change?"

Congratulations Esther!

We just read one of her papers - way to go!

Small Change?

Here is the article from the Boston Globe that I referred to in class today.

Jim

Thought you might be interested

We have an impressive group of students enrolled in Econ 280 this year. Here is a list of courses, travel experiences, and other things they bring to the class.

DEVELOPMENT ECON STUDENTS

Commuting in India

Interesting program in India makes it easier for women to join the workforce. Given whatever the costs are, of this program, what do you think the benefits might be?

JC

Good Morning

Welcome to Development Economics. Please take a few moments to answer the following questions for me:

Why are you taking this class?
What do you hope to learn?
How can you contribute?

Thanks, Jim