Just as giant AETNA uses Google searches to track Flu outbreaks, development economists are starting to capitalize on cell phone usage data. In a recent paper Joshua Blumenstock analyzes cell phone use - a largely untapped source of fresh data for development economists - to track migration patterns in Rwanda: … [Read more...] about A new data plan for development economics?
Rwanda
The cost of inaction
I just finished reading The Cost of Inaction, Case Studies from Rwanda and Angola by Sudhir Anand and others. T he Foreword, by Amartya Sen, is worth the whole price-tag. According to Professor Sen this is a far-reaching book that goes well beyond the two case studies and its “modest title” and provides a good occasion to think about some foundational issues in the … [Read more...] about The cost of inaction