Jing-Rong Zeng
@jingrong-rosa.bsky.social
📤 49
📥 185
📝 27
Researching political economy & conflicts
www.thestandard.com.hk/sup/national...
"Several Hong Kong politicians reminded the public that the government maintains a zero-tolerance stance toward acts endangering national security and urged all sectors of society to stay highly vigilant."
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Politicians warn HK scholars against attending Taiwan’s Hong Kong Studies conference
Hong Kong politicians have warned local academics not to take part in the upcoming third Hong Kong Studies academic conference hosted by Academia Sinica in Taipei.
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/sup/national-security/articlecontent.php?article_id=314204§ion_id=2
20 days ago
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Jing-Rong Zeng
NBER
about 2 months ago
Christian missions in colonial Congo weakened kin and ethnic ties, eroded communal values, and durably redirected loyalties toward religious affiliation, from
@abergeron.bsky.social
https://www.nber.org/papers/w34262
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Jing-Rong Zeng
IOB - Institute of Development Policy
about 2 months ago
The Flemish government’s unexpected decision not to renew IOB’s agreement puts €2.64M funding, 32 jobs, key programmes and global partnerships at risk. Support us!
https://bit.ly/saveIOB
#saveIOB
#developmentpolicy
#developmentpolicy
#iobcommunity
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Jing-Rong Zeng
The Continent
about 2 months ago
Over the next 18 months, the United States will overhaul its role in global health. A new state department policy, published on Friday, outlines a slower, more orderly pullback than this year’s abrupt closure of USAID.
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A more orderly aid exit, but an exit all the same
America has a new plan to pull back from global health funding, but it still wants out.
https://continent.substack.com/p/a-more-orderly-aid-exit-but-an-exit
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Michela Wrong
3 months ago
Anne Applebaum on the war everyone chooses to forget:
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
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The Most Nihilistic Conflict on Earth
Sudan’s devastating civil war shows what will replace the liberal order: anarchy and greed.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/09/sudan-civil-war-humanitarian-crisis/683563/?utm_campaign=one-story-to-read-today&utm_content=20250806&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=One+Story+to+Read+Today
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Ben Golub
4 months ago
I've been working on a new tool, Refine, to make scholars more productive. If you're interested in being among the very first to try the beta, please read on. Refine leverages the best current AI models to draw your attention to potential errors and clarity issues in research paper drafts. 1/
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"...Anciens Établissements Eiffel had originally planned to send the materials to Vietnam to build railway bridges. However, due to France's withdrawal and the Cold War, these materials were instead sent to Taiwan by the US as aid for the construction of the Central Cross-Island Highway."
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The Eiffel Tower’s Secret Connection to Taiwan
YouTube video by TaiwanPlus Docs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlQaOF65mxs
4 months ago
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Rachel Glennerster
4 months ago
Finally read the
@thelancet.com
article claiming US foreign assistance cuts will lead to 14mill deaths up to 2030 which has garnered much media attention. It's problematic to say the least, X-country regression with mortality on left and US spending per head on right. 1/ đź§µ
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Journal of Public Economics
5 months ago
Just published in
@jpube.bsky.social
: "Landmines: The local effects of demining" By Mouno Prem, Miguel E. Purroy, &
@jvargas.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#econsky
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Jakub Nowosad
4 months ago
New R package alert: 📦 mbg for model-based geostatistics Run spatial ML & geostatistical models to estimate continuous surfaces from point data + raster covariates. Built on sf, terra, data.table, caret, and R-INLA. https://cran.r-project.org/package=mbg
#rspatial
#rstats
#geostatistics
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Ludger Woessmann
4 months ago
❓Why do the Nordics & Dutch speak English so much better than the Germans, Italians & French? ➡️ New Working Paper: Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills w/ F. Baumeister & E. Hanushek
www.nber.org/papers/w33984
A đź§µ 1/12
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Jing-Rong Zeng
NBER
4 months ago
Researcher assumptions shape not just how experiments run—but what questions we ask. Outlining best practices for designing context-aware lab experiments in non-Western settings, from Sara Lowes and
@nathannunn.bsky.social
https://www.nber.org/papers/w33981
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Jing-Rong Zeng
NBER
4 months ago
Subjects who play the risky but efficient action in a simple coordination game are more likely to cooperate in repeated games: susceptibility to strategic uncertainty matters for cooperation, from Pedro Dal Bó and Guillaume Fréchette
https://www.nber.org/papers/w33980
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Great report on Uganda’s economic and political interests in Eastern DRC—its competition with Rwanda, tactics to secure its influence, and ties with Nande elites. Very informative!
add a skeleton here at some point
4 months ago
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Afrique XXI
4 months ago
Derrière le "deal" à la Trump entre la
#RDCongo
et le
#Rwanda
"l’exportation de minerais à l’état brut rappelle le pacte colonial d’autrefois, lorsque le cuivre et l’uranium étaient extraits du Katanga pour être traités en Belgique" écrit Colette Braeckman dans l'edito de notre lettre hebdomadaire⤵️
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Rwanda-RD Congo. Le deal Ă la Trump
ÉDITO LE « DEAL » DE TRUMP CONFRONTÉ AUX RÉALITÉS DE LA RD CONGO Par Colette Braeckman Enfin un succès. Tous satisfaits, fiers d’eux-mêmes et confiants dans l’avenir… Depuis la signature de (…)
https://afriquexxi.info/Rwanda-RD-Congo-Le-deal-a-la-Trump
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Jing-Rong Zeng
VoxDev
5 months ago
"We use our estimates on the impact of Gavi funding on child mortality to calculate the number of lives saved by Gavi support, which is approximately 1.5 million lives." Kartini Shastry & Daniel Tortorice's research highlights the importance of Gavi ⤵️
voxdev.org/topic/health...
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Effective health aid: Evidence from Gavi’s vaccine programme
Coordinated health aid for vaccination has increased coverage rates and saved the lives of children around the world.
https://voxdev.org/topic/health/effective-health-aid-evidence-gavis-vaccine-programme
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Jing-Rong Zeng
The Continent
5 months ago
With the price of gold climbing to new records every month, eastern Botswana has become inundated with unlicensed miners who are reopening old mines to scrape for leftovers. They leave behind gaping holes, eroded grasslands and water sources contaminated by the mercury used to extract gold.
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Gold’s deadly glitter
Littered with abandoned gold mines, eastern Botswana is drawing hundreds of informal prospectors as the precious metal’s price smashes records.
https://continent.substack.com/p/golds-deadly-glitter
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www.economist.com/by-invitatio...
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As the UN turns 80, Thant Myint-U argues it should be retooled for a less internationalist age
The world body should go back to focusing on its founding principle: preventing war
https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2025/06/17/as-the-un-turns-80-thant-myint-u-argues-it-should-be-retooled-for-a-less-internationalist-age
5 months ago
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eli knaap
5 months ago
the culprit here is variation in the size of geographic units being displayed. One possible way to try to overcome that is to interpolate to a consistent zonal system
bsky.app/profile/paul...
knaaptime.com/urban_analys...
add a skeleton here at some point
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Michela Wrong
5 months ago
Here's the text version of that investigation into Rwanda's covert three-and-a-half-year war in Democratic Republic of Congo. It was a pleasure working alongside the team at NBC.
www.nbcnews.com/world/africa...
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Hidden invasion: Rwanda's covert war in the Congo
Leaked reports, satellite images and interviews reveal the extent of Rwanda's shadow war in the Congo, as the U.S. tries to strike a deal for peace and access to the region's minerals.
https://www.nbcnews.com/world/africa/rwanda-congo-war-hidden-invasion-trump-peace-talks-rcna209051
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Nina Wilen
6 months ago
"Organized
#crime
groups in
#Africa
have embedded themselves in
#gold
supply chains to such a degree that they now present “a serious global threat,” a new
#UN
report warned"
www.semafor.com/article/05/2...
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Jing-Rong Zeng
IOB - Institute of Development Policy
6 months ago
📚 Who protects artisanal miners? This literature review delves into how formal and informal associations shape social protection in eastern DRC’s artisanal mining sector—where miners often view cooperatives as both support and source of conflict.
loom.ly/ycRetnU
#ArtisanalMining
#SocialProtection
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Christian Zimmermann
6 months ago
You can get announcements about new economics working papers in your field(s) in various ways: email, Mastodon, BlueSky (see started pack below)
nep.repec.org
#RePEc
#Economics
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NEP feeds for new economics papers, by field.
Join the conversation
https://bsky.app/starter-pack/random-repec-paper.bsky.social/3lejqh46m752h
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ipisresearch.be/weekly-brief...
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IPIS Briefing August 2020 - Persistent violence in gold-rich Ituri Province, DR Congo : root causes and impact on local population
The IPIS briefing offers a selection of articles, news and updates on natural resources, armed conflict, Business & Human Rights and arms trade. Every month, an editorial and related publications she...
https://ipisresearch.be/weekly-briefing/ipis-briefing-august-2020-persistent-violence-gold-rich-ituri-province-dr-congo-root-causes-impact-local-population/
6 months ago
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Jing-Rong Zeng
The New Humanitarian
6 months ago
What do Kenya’s refugees think of the aid cuts that slashed rations and services? Dadaab Voices – a project between The New Humanitarian and Radio Gargaar – spoke to 10 refugees about how it’s impacting their lives.
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Dadaab Voices: What aid cuts mean for Kenya’s refugees
WFP will cut food assistance to refugees to just 28% of a full ration – the lowest level ever recorded in Kenya.
https://buff.ly/XTqum1p
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Jing-Rong Zeng
UNU-WIDER
6 months ago
📉 Global trust is in crisis A new WIDER Working Paper by
@apvjustino.bsky.social
and Melissa Samarin reveals how declining trust in governments and between people is weakening the social fabric in countries around the world. đź“„ Read the paper:
go.unu.edu/LqJgS...
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Jing-Rong Zeng
VoxDev
6 months ago
What happens when we view protests not as static episodes, but as dynamic contests with distinct phases—rising tensions and potential concessions? Read today's article w/ SofĂa Correa to learn more:
add a skeleton here at some point
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Frederik Hjorth
6 months ago
🚨 New publication 🚨 : Happy to share that my paper, "Losing Touch: The Rhetorical Cost of Governing" is now forthcoming at
@cpsjournal.bsky.social
. Short 🧵 about the paper here 👇 1/10
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Al Roth
6 months ago
The more you analyze a big data set, the less big it seems...
#econsky
marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2025/05/susa...
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Susan Athey on biggish data and machine learning
https://marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2025/05/susan-athey-on-biggish-data-and-machine.html
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Center for Global Development
6 months ago
With USAID funding terminated, thousands of life-saving programs have lost billions. To help fill the gap, the Project Resource Optimization (PRO) team—hosted by
@cgdev.org
—is mobilizing private funding to keep cost-effective, high-impact efforts alive:
www.cgdev.org/blog/buildin...
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Building the Future of Aid—Starting Now: Strategic Lessons from a Crisis
Despite what administration officials have claimed about preserving life-saving work, many of the programs delivering interventions known to save the most lives per dollar spent have not received the ...
https://www.cgdev.org/blog/building-future-aid-starting-now-strategic-lessons-crisis
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Johannes Haushofer
6 months ago
Is it "good" or "bad" when skilled people leave low-income countries? We summarized the evidence in favor of "brain gain" vs. "brain drain":
www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....
Ungated PDF:
johanneshaushofer.com/research
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Jesse Schreger
6 months ago
Very excited about this special issue of the Journal of International Economics on Geoeconomics. Submission deadline September 15, Conference at Stanford February 2026. Hoping to include papers across a number of fields!
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www.thenation.com/article/cult...
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What No One Talks About When They Talk About Taiwan
In so many histories, writers so often ignore the social movements and underclass that helped define island nation's destiny.
https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/struggle-for-taiwan-review/
6 months ago
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Looking forward to participating in the conference at my alma mater!
esoc.princeton.edu/events/2025/...
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ESOC Research and Policy Conference - Taipei
The Empirical Studies of Conflict (ESOC) network will host its first-ever research and policy conference in Asia from June 2 to June 4, 2025, at National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei.The event wi...
https://esoc.princeton.edu/events/2025/esoc-research-and-policy-conference-taipei
6 months ago
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Jing-Rong Zeng
delali adogla-bessa
6 months ago
Wrote about the start of John Mahama's ambitious GoldBod play in the latest edition of
@thecontinent.org
Full issue here:
thecontinent.org
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Crisis Group
6 months ago
The UN is abuzz over donor cuts. A leaked UN80 paper proposes reforms to make it “more streamlined, impactful, and fiscally responsible” but diplomats warn it could fall flat.
@richardgowan1.bsky.social
explains.
www.crisisgroup.org/global/can-u...
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Can the UN’s Radical New Plan Make a Difference? | Crisis Group
Crisis Group expert Richard Gowan on what is in the leaked “UN80” reform plan, and what it is missing
https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/can-uns-radical-new-plan-make-difference?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
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"Taiwaneseness is a complicated concept. The island has been colonised by various empires: the Dutch, the Spanish, the Qing dynasty, and the Japanese... Running roughshod over the local population’s feelings...He put the island under martial law, which lasted four decades."
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The terrible secrets of Taiwan’s Stasi files
Researchers have unearthed the surveillance records of Taiwan’s former dictatorship. But the revelations inside could tear society apart
https://www.economist.com/1843/2025/05/01/the-terrible-secrets-of-taiwans-stasi-files
6 months ago
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"Many members of local armed groups (including CODECO) are at the same time artisanal miners." "Landownership, customary land rights, and access to land in general, are important drivers of conflict in eastern DRC...Mining is intrinsically linked to land."
ipisresearch.be/publication/...
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Armed conflict, insecurity, and mining in eastern DRC: reflections on the nexus between natural resources and armed conflict
This report offers a new framework for looking at the eastern Congo conflict, one within which new evolutions of the past twenty years find a place. Indeed, violent conflict in eastern Congo has chang...
https://ipisresearch.be/publication/armed-conflict-insecurity-and-mining-in-eastern-drc-reflections-on-the-nexus-between-natural-resources-and-armed-conflict/
6 months ago
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"China’s grey-zone tactics are designed to exploit the third factor, which is the chronic dysfunction of Taiwan’s politics. While few Taiwanese want to be part of a communist-run China, their politics suffers from a toxic blend of polarisation and complacency."
www.economist.com/leaders/2025...
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A superpower crunch over Taiwan is coming
China has a new chance to call America’s bluff
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2025/05/01/a-superpower-crunch-over-taiwan-is-coming
6 months ago
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Nina Wilen
7 months ago
"#TĂĽrkiye is
#Africa
's top supplier, with a total of 32 agreements, 28 of which have occurred since 2021" Last picture - check out three-border area between
#Mali
,
#Burkina
&
#Niger
africacenter.org/spotlight/dr...
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Jing-Rong Zeng
UNU-WIDER
7 months ago
What are the impacts of economic sanctions on informal employment?
@rnistico.bsky.social
and Ali Moghaddasi Kelishomi investigate that using the case study of Iran. Read about their findings here:
go.unu.edu/lqJKF
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Jing-Rong Zeng
AEA Journals
7 months ago
Forthcoming in the AER: "The Long-Run Effects of Government Spending" by Juan Antolin-Diaz and Paolo Surico.
www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
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The Long-Run Effects of Government Spending
(Forthcoming Article) - Military spending has large and persistent effects on output because it shifts the composition of public spending towards R\&D. This boosts innovation and private investment in...
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20231278&from=f
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Crisis Group
7 months ago
The battle for Darfur is nearing a bloody endgame and setting the stage for what many fear could prove a de facto partition of Sudan.
www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-...
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Battle for Darfur Reaches Fever Pitch as Sudan’s War Enters Third Year | Crisis Group
Crisis Group’s Shewit Woldemichael on the battle for El Fasher in North Darfur and what’s at stake
https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/sudan/battle-darfur-reaches-fever-pitch-sudans-war-enters-third-year?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Sarah Langlotz
7 months ago
It's been 5 years since Lennart Kaplan and I initiated the
@3dseminar.bsky.social
. We're incredibly grateful for the many outstanding speakers, for the great support of our partnering institutions and for the amazing audience whose continued interest and participation has kept the series going.
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Amid Trump's trade war, the debate over TSMC's strategic investment intensifies. (KMT retreated to Taiwan after losing the civil war and has shifted to a pro-unification, pro-China stance. They now hold the majority in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, while the president is from the DPP.)
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Will the KMT Seek to Expand Legislative Power Over TSMC? | New Bloom Magazine
In an unusual exchange in the legislature yesterday, KMT caucus leader Fu Kun-chi lashed out at TSMC’s plans to invest 100 billion USD in the US. This occurred in the course of an exchange between Fu…
https://newbloommag.net/2025/03/12/kmt-ly-tsmc/
7 months ago
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Jing-Rong Zeng
Anton Gerashchenko
7 months ago
Once again, there are casualties and injuries from a Russian strike.Children have been killed. Another blow to the psyche of an entire nation living in a constant state of tension& pain —every time our people are killed Today,many are crying,feeling fear,anger,exhaustion.Today, I have no words left
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Crisis Group
7 months ago
NEW PHOTO ESSAY | The Spillover of Sudan’s War into Eastern Chad War in Sudan has pushed about one million refugees and returnees into isolated and impoverished parts of neighbouring Chad. We visited the region to learn how it is coping with the influx.
www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-...
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The Spillover of Sudan’s War into Eastern Chad | Crisis Group
War in Sudan has pushed about one million refugees and returnees into isolated and impoverished parts of neighbouring Chad. Crisis Group expert Charles Bouëssel visited this region to learn how it is ...
https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/sudan-chad/spillover-sudans-war-eastern-chad?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=social
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VoxDev
7 months ago
🆕 The uneven reach of the state: Using machine learning to map local state presence Today on VoxDev, Gustav Agneman (NTNU), Christoffer Cappelen (NTNU), Kasper Brandt (Kraka Economics), and David Sjoberg (Epista Life Science) outline research on sub-Saharan Africa:
voxdev.org/topic/method...
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The uneven reach of the state: Using machine learning to map local state presence
How can we estimate state presence in areas where direct measurements are lacking? New research offers a solution to measuring state presence using machine learning techniques.
https://voxdev.org/topic/methods-measurement/uneven-reach-state-using-machine-learning-map-local-state-presence
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Center for Global Development
7 months ago
As stakeholders gather for this year's IMF & World Bank
#SpringMeetings
, CGD is hosting crucial discussions with leading global development experts, policymakers, representatives from international finance institutions, & more.🌸🌍 Explore the schedule of events & RSVP below! ⬇️
bit.ly/43HcvIn
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