1. Forget the piddling microfinance. What poor countries need is equity

2. Poverty and self-control

3. Joke of the month

4. Ex-pat essay of the month

5. McKenzie on Banerjee and Duflo

6. Will Chinese research outpace that of the US? Money quote: “Usually, when a document has “in the 21st Century” in the title, it can only go downhill from there.”