Nothing says Christmas like the Australians traumatising 11 visiting Englishmen over a small wooden urn full of ashes.

Really looking forward to reading this update.

This is going to bankrupt me

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Tolstoy and his confidante (a lizard). From Gorky’s Fragments from My Diary

What is development economics? I find it more and more difficult to define what development economics actually is. So, for this @voxdev.bsky.social blog, I asked development economists how they define development economics: voxdev.org/topic/what-d...

This is a crucial point. Still relatively few economists are explicitly trained on this point, and too many econ papers show it.

When thinking about how to get out of this mess we need to keep in mind 'asymmetric causation'. Knowing what caused a problem doesn't tell you how to solve it. The example that brought the point home to me was: If you're run over by a steamroller, the cure is not to have it reverse back over you

A wine that makes you think, @jowolff.bsky.social

This is a truly mad review of Perrow's classic Complex Organizations:

New entrant to the J-Rock song name hall of fame

Cackling

Some people are cool because they’re good at something, and in others it’s just completely innate to their bearing. Jadeja is the latter. He could be a clerk in the bank and he’d be the coolest bank clerk in history.

Bedtime reading. I’m three pages into Apology and have already written the margin note “not just wrong but dangerously wrong.” He may yet convince me otherwise, mind.

Japanese punk bands have the coolest song names

help I'm under attack

Today is the ten year anniversary of the fuckery tweet. Yes, the Lakers were knocked out in the first round, but this year, aged 40, LeBron James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game. The fuckery shows no signs of abating.

Took me over two years, but I have finally found my way to @cgdev.org’s London offices. Looking forward to reuniting with my former CGD colleague @scepticalranil.bsky.social and former WB colleague Sam Asher at an event gender equality tomorrow at RHUL.

Looking forward to presenting in this World Bank webinar tomorrow (5/13) at 9 am ET.

Tom Mboya sailing close to an IV here, writing in the 1960s

Quite the quote.

Bought this in 1996 in Nairobi, and getting down to reading it only now, not quite thirty years. What an excellent dedication, quite in tune with Mboya’s character.

I'm reminded of Heather Sarsons' work showing that female surgeons experience a career hit after a medical mistake, but male surgeons don't.

My son requested I ask the internet if owls have noses. AI not exactly covering itself with glory here.

now *this* is the anecdote of the day

Important null results in development economics Despite the bias against publishing null results, they are important for policy, helping to kill bad ideas. I've highlighted some key examples we have featured on @voxdev.bsky.social: voxdev.org/topic/import...

Come work with @markusgold.bsky.social and me on global development stuff. centerforglobaldevelopment.applytojob.com/apply/Yb82j2...

RIP Big George.

Luka: "I got 20, you talking about ball don't lie" LMAO

Why Dean Karlan, Chief Economist of USAID resigned yesterday: "I was ready to rebuild from wherever we ended up to identify the most effective programs, figure out how to get them back in place, and to recommend new awards. But I received no response. Zero engagement." www.npr.org/sections/goa...

It's a very sad day. Just notified that @iza.org is closing its doors as of 31 December 2025. At a time when labor is under attack and technological change moves at an ever-faster pace, I can't help but think that this is a short-sighted decision. My heart goes out to those folks who work there.

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Nooooooooooooo. NO! No. no. N!O!

Three must read papers for PhD students. #scisky #PhD #science #research #academicsky 1. The importance of stupidity in scientific research Open Access journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

In South Sudan, Afghanistan, and Somalia, USAID alone provides more than a third of total ODA. It is focused on emergency (life saving) response. The ongoing stop-works and confusion will be particularly deadly in those countries. www.cgdev.org/blog/which-c...

Fun fact: the World Bank has an official cartographer who has to approve all publications that feature a map When I was there it was one guy sitting in the basement, being hounded by report authors across the institution He must be having the worst week thehill.com/policy/techn...

You know your presentation is cooked when your discussant pulls up like this.

a devastating defeat for Coase theorem here www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

This is a great paper.

This USAID situation reminds me of why I’ve always called BS on Dambisa Moyo’s argument about foreign aid. Is aid dependency a bad thing? Absolutely. But “aid” is a small word that covers an array of things and calling for the unilateral suspension of aid without parsing that through is dangerous.

Keep thinking about possible reasons to trade Luka, almost convincing myself and then… returning to this: Even if he’s never in shape, if this is what he does with a beer gut who cares?

For example, this Econometrica paper by David Baqaee discusses models in which firms shut down production, and so shocks that look like 1% in old-style models get amplified to have a way larger impact. 3/

1/8 The claim that "the World Bank is bankrolling economic growth in China" does not make any sense. China is actually an important source of income for the World Bank. A short thread 🧵 nypost.com/2025/01/29/b...

Just taught my four-year-old the phrase “diversification of risks”, which felt like a very 2025 moment.

I know there’s a lot happening that matters much more and is much more deserving of my brain space. But trying to process Luka + LeBron and the circuits are just frying.

Don’t miss this! It’s going to be a really good discussion.

Finally had the occasion to crack this one. Probably the best thing I’ve drunk in at least six or seven years.

Can we fix climate finance? 🌱💰 @scepticalranil.bsky.social covers the economics of funding climate action; an ideal financing structure; what trade-offs must be confronted; and three specific recommendations that would improve matters ⬇ www.cgdev.org/blog/climate...

The Carter Center set about this in 1986 when there were 3.5m cases of guinea worm disease worldwide. So far this year there have been seven. It would only be the second disease after smallpox ever to be completely eradicated. Again: a good man. RIP. www.cartercenter.org/health/guine...