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IPA’s weekly links

Comedian Noam Schuster jokes that she's one of the few who can still perform to a live audience, of fellow recovering patients

Guest post by Jeff Mosenkis of Innovations for Poverty Action

Coronavirus patient, comedian Noam Shuster, found herself at the center of an accidental social experiment profiled on the Rough Translation podcast

This was also a good reminder about the usual script when it comes to how viruses play out in poor vs. rich countries:

  • The Economist has a nice profile of Princeton economist Leonard Wantchekon, who escaped from being a political prisoner in Benin, and went on to found the African School of Economics there to make top notch econ training more accessible. But you can read his story in his own words: He’s posted the introduction and chapter 7 of his book here.
    • One of the points made in the Economist profile about the school is that talent is found all over, opportunity is not. It’s a helpful reminder that if you’re an econ researcher who relies on talented staff in another country for data collection (even if your communication goes through an American RA), a helpful thing to do is set aside some time to talk to them about their career goals and how you can help.
  • Dave Evans pioneers a YouTube paper “reaction video” format, walking the viewer through a paper – in this case, on refugee child education. And today he has a “movie trailer“-style one explaining how advance market commitments for vaccines work.
  • A good podcast from Rough Translation: Hotel Corona (Apple) about how a hotel leased to the Israeli government for recovering Corona patients became a nation-captivating social experiment and unwitting reality show.

 

Click through for this thread of the best historical U.S. Congressional facial hair, you won’t be sorry.