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Welcome to economics, all you students (and aid workers)

posted to Aid Watch on Wed 8th Sep 10

Today, for the first time in my professional career I taught Principles of Economics. I’ll be teaching this all semester long and giving occasionalreports from the classroom.The officially required duty of allPrinciples instructors is to first define
Knowledgeable, powerful expert in charge of development strategy admits he is fictional

posted to Aid Watch on Tue 7th Sep 10

Just a day after completing the countrys Comprehensive Development Strategy, the expert in charge of Development admitted that he does not actually exist. The expert had done a superb job prioritizing the needs of the poor across 9 major sectors and hundreds
IAD on A-i-d

posted to Aid Watch on Fri 3rd Sep 10

This post is by Claudia Williamson, a post-doctoral fellow at DRI.In The Samaritans Dilemma: The Political Economy of Development Aid, Elinor Ostrom and other members of the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University apply Ostroms

The Idiots Guide to Answering Queen Elizabeth

posted to Aid Watch on Fri 7th Aug 09

by William EasterlyQueen Elizabeth famously asked why economists did not predict the crisis. I wanted to add to the large chorus of responses, partly to save the reputation of mainstream economics as something still very useful to development, and partly to
Everyone Should Be Responsible...(except the aid agencies)

posted to Aid Watch on Mon 26th Jan 09

By William EasterlyToday, I foist a new blog called Aid Watch on the blogosphere. The objective is to be brutally honest when aid is not helping the poor, but also praising it when it is. Alas, there is far to go. Take World Bank President Robert Zoellicks
How ethnic profiling explains Dani Rodriks fondness for industrial policy

posted to Aid Watch on Thu 14th May 09

by William Easterly Airline passengers recently ejected an innocent Muslim family from an airplane because they were afraid the family were terrorists. Similar reasoning explains why Dani Rodrik favors industrial policy as a key to success. Before getting overly

William Easterly introduces Principles of Economics

posted to Geary Behavioural Economics Blog on Wed 8th Sep 10

A nice rant from William Easterly on introducing students to Economics. Below is slightly out of context but gives a good feel. The boredom of economics education also has the unfortunate effect of making economics scarce in aid work, given the number
Morning Reading, by Arnold Kling

posted to EconLog on Wed 8th Sep 10

Ed Pinto writes, Here's my proposal to bring Congress's penchant for imprudent lending to a quick end: All congressional pension assets should be invested in funds backed solely by the high- risk loans mandated by federal housing legislation. I have a feeling
Defending Sweatshops

posted to Free Market Mojo on Sun 5th Sep 10

When workers voluntarily take a job they demonstrate that they believe the job is the best alternative available to them even when that job is unsafe and the pay is very low compared to wages in the United States. Thats why economists with political views as