Hundreds pack Montevideo’s plaza as La Rueda de Candombe caps a breakout run Every Monday night in Montevideo, hundreds of people gather around a table in a public square, drawn by the pulse of drums, guitars, and voices.

apnews.com/article/urug...

Diabetes, Overlooked and Unchecked, Poses New Risks in Africa

Article in NYT on diabetes in Central Africa:

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/23/h...

Opinion | China doesn’t want you to know about Operation Yellowbird Behind Alysa Liu’s Olympic glory lies a deeper drama — one that China does not want told.

Great story with background on Alysa Liu’s father and his escape from China after the June 4 1989 Tiananmen Massacre of students and workers:
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

What do parasitic worms and wages have in common? More than you think - Berkeley News Nearly 30 years of data from a landmark UC Berkeley project in Kenya show that treating children's intestinal parasites does more than improve health — it boosts adult earnings and secures the lives…

How a $1 intervention is transforming millions of lives worldwide.

A new podcast from @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social News features CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social’s work on childhood deworming & its lasting impact on health and education.

Listen here: go.cega.org/deworming-podcast

💡 A look back at this year’s PacDev.

Last weekend, the Pacific Development Conference (PacDev) at @ucdavis.bsky.social gathered researchers and practitioners to share innovative research from across disciplines, including a keynote address from CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social.

A picture of a USAID forever sign

spotted in DC ❤️

Alysa Liu, daughter of a Chinese refugee and pro-democracy activist, brings glory to the USA. 🇺🇸 🥇

Alysa Liu became the first American woman to win an individual Olympic figure skating gold medal in nearly a quarter of a century when she held off Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto and Ami Nakai on Thursday night. https://wapo.st/3OhVBuj

Oakland proud. Congratulations to Alysa Liu on bringing home the gold!

Congrats to BART rider and Oakland legend Alysa Liu on winning a gold medal at the Olympics and making the Bay Area proud!

At her home rink, Alysa Liu a 'hero' for making Oakland golden

www.nytimes.com/athletic/705...

🔍 Does economic hardship increase cheating?

In a new #CEGAWorkingPaper, CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social and colleagues find that people are more likely to cheat when facing economic hardship or large financial incentives to cheat.

📖 Learn more: go.cega.org/WPS256

We have a super easy letter campaign to save NCAR. Takes 30 seconds to yell at your Congress Critters and you’ll can do it every day!

@standupforscience.bsky.social

fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/152...

A study of middle-aged Kenyan adults finds that monthly earnings increase by 1.07 percent per centimeter of increased height, from Wilson King, Edward Miguel, and Michael W. Walker www.nber.org/papers/w34769

New Working Paper! 🚨

Taller people earn more, especially in low & middle-income countries

@tedmiguel.bsky.social, Michael Walker, & I study why — using rich longitudinal microdata on 4,000+ Kenyan adults

🧵: 1/5

5 papers from the Super Bowl of Economics Planet Money went to the annual meeting of the American Economics Association, and we saw some fascinating papers presented there.

www.npr.org/sections/pla...

Uruguay’s Renewable Charge: A Small Nation, A Big Lesson For The World Uruguay built a power grid that runs 99% on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. Here’s how its bold energy overhaul became a global model.

“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

Congress Is Reversing Trump’s Steep Budget Cuts to Science

A glimmer of hope for US scientific research:

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/10/s...

Working in open science or meta-research? Present at the BITSS Annual Meeting in Berkeley! One of the leading conferences in this space.

If you are a resident of California, the state now has a portal where you can demand deletion of your personal data from 500+ registered data brokers with a single request form, for free.

consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov

2025: Year in Review Political and economic divergence on the Continent continues apace

Africa in 2025: A Review: open.substack.com/pub/kenopalo...

Laura Saavedra-Lux presenting her research at the 2025 WIDER Development Conference in Helsinki, Finland.

Panelists on stage at the 2025 WIDER Development Conference in Helsinki, Finland.

Patricia Justino speaking at a fireside chat at the 2025 WIDER Development Conference in Helsinki, Finland.

Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee speaking at WIDER Annual Lecture in 2025.

Earlier this year, we hosted the 2025 WIDER Development Conference in Helsinki, celebrating #WIDER40!

Themes on growth, equity, and innovative solutions, the conference united leading minds to tackle global challenges. Looking forward to 2026 in New Delhi! #2025recap

We found that Wisconsinites that grew up around smelt mines during the 1940s had steeper rates of cognitive decline in later life. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35146115/

On Mount Fuji, summit udon is a lifesaver Climbing Mount Fuji is a test of strength and stamina. Steaming bowls of curry udon await climbers who make the overnight hike.

At the summit of Mount Fuji, hot bowls of udon soup await climbers. Many swear that the exhaustion makes the food taste better at 12,400 feet. Could a bowl of noodles and an unforgettable sunset justify the climb?

What would it cost to end extreme poverty?

"We estimate that reducing the poverty rate to 1% ... would cost $170B nominal per year."

"The results correspond to a cost of (approximately) ending extreme poverty of roughly 0.3% of global GDP."

The networks of economists who frequently show up in the Economic Report of the President.

What stands out to you?

Figure shows the number of firms registered with Ukrainian owners. Data from the National Court Register (KRS) and Central Register and Information on Business Activity (CEIDG). When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, over a million Ukrainian refugees fled to Poland. This column shows that far from displacing local businesses, these refugees sparked an entrepreneurial boom. Ukrainians started nearly 39,000 firms in just two years. In addition, every 10% increase in Ukrainian firm registrations triggered a 2.3% rise in Polish entrepreneurship. Survey data reveal two mechanisms driving this multiplier effect: Ukrainian businesses inspired Polish entrepreneurs to launch similar ventures, and Ukrainian firms created new supply chain opportunities with local partners.

Pierre-Louis Vezina, Cevat Giray Aksoy, and Piotr Lewandowski show that, far from displacing local businesses, Ukrainian refugees in Poland sparked an entrepreneurial boom as they inspired Polish entrepreneurs and created new supply chain opportunities.
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky

P B Mehta writes: MNREGA was the ground beneath our feet. It’s slipping away One of the principal arguments advanced against the MGNREGA is that it raises wages. This concern underlies the clamour to restrict the scheme to the agricultural off-season. But in the context of the...

The Govt of India is dismantling the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, and that's a real shame.

Time series of global temperature anomalies from 1980 to present with predictions for 2025 (made in Dec 2024), and 2026, along with the YTD estimate for the 2025 (with only one month to go).

Scientists are supposed to be happy when their predictions are skillful, right?

Why do I not feel happy?

In other words, the research literature suggests a much better basis for modern policy:

1. Labor wealth is a scarce, strategic asset
2. Skilled emigration an *investment* in a global network
3. Aid should help manage, not stop, migration
4. Migration is at the heart of successful development