According to Unicef there are 29 million indigenous people in Latin America. Indigenous peoples represent 6 per cent of the population of Latin America; mestizos, afro-descendants, whites, and other races represent the other 94 per cent. The vast majority of us are mestizos, a mixed race of Spaniards and Indigenous. Indigenous people face a lot of difficulties. In … [Read more...] about One mestizo, one DNA test, and my origins
Beyond development effectiveness
18 ways to fail
Lately in my daily commute, I have been listening to audio books. This past couple of days it has been Flash Boys by Michael Lewis. The book is about how high frequency traders game the stock market exchanges - very complex systems - by front running purchase orders by a millionth of a millisecond. “Front running” is like tapping the right shoulder of the person in front of … [Read more...] about 18 ways to fail
The 60% solution and the trillion dollar bill
I came across an astonishing mind blowing number in my commute to work the other day, while listening to Owen Barder (@owenbarder) interview with Michael Clemens (@m_clem) on this Development Drums podcast (highly recommended -end of infomercial). The number? 60 percent. Sixty percent of the difference between the income of a person in a developed country … [Read more...] about The 60% solution and the trillion dollar bill
Macro problems, micro solutions?
In a recent and very interesting article, William Easterly tried to put an end to his debate with Jeffrey Sachs’ claim that aid would end poverty as exemplified in the Millennium Villages project in Africa, where the hypothesis is that all problems of poverty have discrete technological fixes (for example, bed nets to deter malaria-spreading mosquitoes). “… Sachs’ promise … [Read more...] about Macro problems, micro solutions?
The 2013 Development Effectiveness top 5 blog posts
In 2013, we published 48 blog posts and had over approximately 36,000 visitors to our parallel sites in English and Español (Thanks!!). These are the top 5 posts by readership in English: The Costs of Crime and Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean Shelter from the storm Five steps you need in education evaluation Go to school, but only if it is a good … [Read more...] about The 2013 Development Effectiveness top 5 blog posts