· Call for papers : BREAD conference on Africa at the World Bank. Submissions due November 15, conference is at the start of March next year.
· Tim Taylor summarizes work on the impact of soap operas on fertility in Brazil (just published in the AEJ applied).
· Stata tutorials now on YouTube. These are put up for free by Stata Corp, and so far include 24 videos of 2-8 minutes each, on topics like “Stata Simple Linear Regression” and “Stata t-test for Two Independent Samples”.
· Speaking of online education, MR University launched this week, with a course on development economics. First videos online give some basic facts about development, and then focus on geography – too lazy(busy?) to read Guns, Germs and Steel – watch the 18 minute video instead. A very good summary of the main arguments, but to date the content is light on critical discussion.
· Latest issue of the Journal of Development Effectiveness is a special issue on systematic reviews, including a “how-to” guide, several methodological pieces, and a systematic review of the impact of daycare programs on child health.
· Funding opportunities: DFID has a couple of interesting new grants:
- ESRC-DFID joint fund for poverty alleviation research – phase 3
- ESRC-DFID Development Frontiers research fund
Finally, your graph of the week – the rise of correlation doesn’t imply causation (source) as measured by Google Books:
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