I am a PhD candidate at American University in Washington, DC. I am interested in state formation and governance in low income countries. My dissertation examines the influence of foreign aid on incumbent advantage in African presidential elections.
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A photo of my Colombian-Mexican friend, who I met in America, sitting in a Spanish-Canadian run Moroccan restaurant in Toronto. The photo was shot with a lens made in the USSR in the 1970s, and is connected to my Japanese-made camera with a Chinese-made adapter.
Jim Manzi wrote an excellent article on public policy experimentation and the difficulties in learning anything about the social world. He explains the limits of randomized trials much more eloquently than I did.
Additional remarks from Manzi and links to more commentary on his article can be found here.
The most recent episode of This American Life is about reconstruction in Haiti. It features excellent stories which touch on nearly all of the major problems with foreign aid and development work. Being This American Life, it does this with good humour and clear language. This should be required reading for undergrad development classes.
You can listen here. (click through the donation request page if it appears)
Also, sorry for not posting recently. I was finishing up the remainder of my coursework.
From Roving Bandit, who found it on Global Dashboard, who got it from the World Bank (.pdf).
xkcd demonstrates the power of institutions. A larger version is here.
