Feb 24, 2010

Helping Haiti’s Children, Part II

What should people do who want to help Haiti’s children?

Dec 21, 2009

The Neocolonialists?

Recently I was listening to Rory Stewart’s The Places In Between, the story of his walk across Afghanistan. Near the end of the book Stewart turns his attention to the aid agencies, public and private, that had come rushing into Afghanistan. His observations are worthwhile reading for anyone interested in making international aid more effective, so I’m excerpting them here.

Nov 19, 2009

More Evidence of Evidence Failure

Tests on the ground show that American patients do not take drugs expressly for cancer prevention.

Nov 16, 2009

Saving the World By Lowering Your Expectations

Impatient optimists are like investors in subprime mortgages in 2007. They can be so blinded by the upside that they fail to do their due diligence. In the end, their impatience and pursuit of outsize returns fuels waste and disappointment. Patient optimists, by contrast, have lowered their expectations of any particular program or intervention, but not their belief in a better world over the long term. If we’re going to succeed in making the world a better place, we need to convince more people to lower their expectations, too.

Oct 15, 2009

Water Tabulations

Water use and preservation may be going increasingly high tech.

Oct 15, 2009

Good News in Neglected Tropical Disease Control

Researchers from McGill University in Canada have identified the mechanism used by the leishmania parasite to survive in human cells and disable the human immune system.

Oct 07, 2009

Rwanda: Now the Tragedy has Irony

Rwanda is a place where the generally accepted and reported narrative is increasingly diverging from the facts on the ground. The narrative is well-known: Since the genocide, Rwanda has made steady progress in economic growth, stability and reconciliation under the benevolent and enlightened leadership of President Paul Kagame who is attracting economic investment from the business community rather than by soliciting aid.

But the narrative is breaking down at all levels. Rwanda is starting to look much more like a bitter tragedy than an inspirational new model.

Sep 22, 2009

Raising Tiny Tim

According to a recent study conducted by the OECD on child welfare, US-children rank among the lowest in certain indicators—such as material well-being and educational well-being—despite the fact that the US is one of the highest spenders. In fact, the study generally showed a poor relationship between funding and outcomes.

Jun 22, 2009

The Food Crisis, Hovering at the Margins,

A year ago the global food crisis was front and center in international circles. Today, you’d be hard pressed to find the phrase appear at all. But the problems so evident last year have not been solved, they’ve mostly just been displaced from their position at the top of the crisis list. With the rapid spread of Ug99 wheat stem rust, we could be facing a food crisis soon that utterly dwarfs the last two years.

May 24, 2009

J-PAL Publishes Long Awaited Microfinance Impact Study

Some readers may think the report is fairly damning to the marketing claims of the impact of microfinance—more studies like this in other areas and over longer periods are necessary before we can reject the traditional views though. Ultimately, though, this study is very good news for microfinance because it begins to illuminate what is really happening among borrowers. That information, in turn, can be used to improve the product to make sure that the best products are offered to clients—and the impact of microfinance can improve.