June 2008
12 posts
1 tag
China's foreign aid
Something that caught my attention at the NSI aid conference was that China does not publish its foreign aid budget. I knew that China wasn’t part of the OECD DAC, didn’t follow the Paris Declaration, and that it had a reputation for not sharing information, but I still found this a little shocking.
Unofficial reports have placed China’s Pacific aid budget at around 300 million...
The CBC radio show Search Engine interviewed...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-6-15) →
Tim Hecker
Akron/Family
The Cinematic Orchestra
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Gnarls Barkley
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr
New RSS address
I just moved the RSS feed from this site to FeedBurner so I can track stats and navel gaze more effectively. I think the old RSS feed address should still work, but I would recommend updating to the new one.
The transformative potential of the internet
A month ago, I watched an excellent speech by Clay Shirky on the power of the internet to transform social networks. His speech is now a book, Here Comes Everybody.
I recently stumbled upon a good example of how drastically new technologies can help to change society. The time is 1989, the location is Soviet Eastern Europe, and the quote is from Post War, by Tony Judt:
One novel factor [of the...
Perfect studying music
I am not usually a fan of noise music, but after being given Tim Hecker’s Harmony in Ultraviolet as a gift last year and buying Radio Amor a few days ago, I can say without reservation that Hecker makes music that I can think to.
I often study or do my thinking in public places, and while I find that the bustle keeps me mentally energized, the sounds are distracting. Hecker’s music...
My Top 5 Artists (Week Ending 2008-6-8) →
Crystal Castles
Chad VanGaalen
Tim Hecker
The New Pornographers
Gnarls Barkley
Imported from Last.fm Tumblr
Using foreign aid to PREVENT conflict
Edward Miguel, an economics professor at University of California at Berkeley, gave an interview to American Public Media. The APM article was given the unfortunate title “Using foreign aid to stop conflict” [my emphasis]. Based on the title, I was prepared to write a scathing post on the difficulties of providing relief aid in conflict situations, let alone using aid to actually stop...
Don't the poor already have incentives to escape...
I guess almost any article that takes aim at US policy toward the poor is a good thing, but I can’t get very excited about this article by Michael Blim. After criticizing the current ‘punishment’ based approach to dealing with poverty, he highlights a new method:
Another approach is on the rise. Providing the poor with incentives to change, it is proposed, could work better than...
Aid Conference in Ottawa
June 17-18 in Ottawa The North-South Institute is holding a conference entitled: Does Aid Work? Can it work better? Crucial questions on the road to Accra and Doha. I’ll be there, just watching, for my first conference experience. Academically, my must see portions are on assessing the impact of aid, and aid modalities and governance. As a Canadian, I am most looking forward to the...