{"id":63,"date":"2016-04-18T23:26:22","date_gmt":"2016-04-18T21:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seanmuller.co.za\/notesfromtheperiphery\/?p=63"},"modified":"2016-04-18T23:26:22","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T21:26:22","slug":"links-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.seanmuller.co.za\/notesfromtheperiphery\/2016\/04\/18\/links-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Links: universities&growth, good podcasts and bad philosophy of economics, external validity, etc"},"content":{"rendered":"

Papers, blogs, podcasts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Do universities cause economic growth? Anna Valero and John Van Reenen have a paper saying yes<\/a>…<\/p>\n

In my past engagements with higher education policy this question has annoyed me a lot, and I\u2019ll post more about that in future posts. I get even more annoyed when I see definitive headlines<\/a> based on papers with questionable identification strategies. We need a bit more humility about empirical work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In which regard, I\u2019ve recently been catching-up on some EconTalk podcasts. I enjoyed these two:<\/p>\n

Heckman on econometrics<\/a>, with some useful comments about \u2018Hayekian humility\u2019, failures of prediction and the like.<\/p>\n

Phillip Tetlock on \u2018superforecasting\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even closer to the subject of my own recent work, two interesting-looking papers relating to RCTs and external validity:<\/p>\n

Bentley Macleod on an issue I\u2019m interested in: performance of subjective expertise<\/a><\/p>\n

Banerjee, Chassang and Snowberg on decision-theoretic considerations relevant to external validity<\/a><\/p>\n

I covered aspects of this in my PhD and published working paper on external validity<\/a>, but look forward to reading this contribution.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chris Blattman has a useful summary of recent developments among development NGOs relating to basic income grants (an idea that was debated at some length in South Africa over a decade ago):<\/p>\n

http:\/\/chrisblattman.com\/2016\/04\/15\/ipas-weekly-links-57\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Came across a truly terrible piece<\/a> on experimental methods in economics and \u2018economics imperialism\u2019. The saddest part is that this is often the only kind of \u2018philosophising\u2019 tolerated in parts of the discipline.<\/p>\n

I had similar sentiments about this related podcast<\/a> with Russ Roberts.<\/p>\n

I have one draft paper and a sketch of a research programme on this topic, and the coverage given here to the issue is really bad. (That\u2019s as nicely as I can put it). Classify both as links to avoid<\/em>…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A lot\u2019s being said about the Panama Papers<\/a>. People and companies should not evade taxes. The notable absence of some countries\u2019 citizens from this particular database, though, does raise some interesting questions about possibly selective leaks.<\/p>\n

Events and initiatives<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the 28th<\/sup> of April Thandika Mkandawire is speaking in Cape Town on panel discussion entitled:<\/p>\n

Africa and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): Progress, Problems and Prospects<\/em><\/p>\n

Details here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In London, CEMMAP recently held a one-day conference on econometrics for public policy:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ifs.org.uk\/uploads\/cemmap\/programmes\/Econometrics%20for%20public%20policy%2C%20methods%20and%20applications%20040416.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

Looks like a great programme.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Economic Research Southern Africa<\/a> has a new initiative to train academic economists in quantitative methods:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.econrsa.org\/call-application-skills-development-training-econometrics-0<\/a><\/p>\n

On the one hand, this is a good idea. On the other hand, it\u2019s a real slap in the face for those who have these skills but still can\u2019t get academic jobs. However, it usefully supports a point I\u2019ve been arguing for some time: in most disciplines, academics in South Africa are amongst the most protected of workers regardless of their competence or effort. (For international readers: in South Africa formalised \u2018tenure\u2019 processes don\u2019t really exist.) Much more on both issues in future posts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Forthcoming deadlines<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Campbell Collaboration annual conference is open for submissions:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.campbellcollaboration.org\/news_\/What_Works_Global_Summit_Request_for_Submissions.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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