Research Links

1. Why regular church-goers are happier (they make new friends)

2. Four politically easy ways to improve the development impact of UK immigration policy

3. Cash transfers and politics: "anti-poverty programs might have nefarious long-term consequences by preventing replacements of local incumbents"

4. Micro evidence on the impact of the Rwandan civil war on economic performance

5. Can Minimum Wages Cause a Big Push? Evidence from Indonesia

6. Implications of Ghana's graduation to middle income status

New OPM research

1. An evaluation of Oxfam's Emergency Food Security and Livelihoods Urban Programme.

2. How to making agricultural financing work in Rwanda (it's about post-harvest storage & marketing, not inputs)

3. How savings banks can provide better services for the poor

4. Assessing value for money of donor support to the financial sector in Kenya

Links (now on Twitter)

It has been well over a year since my experiment with Twitter began. Since then I have become thoroughly hooked, and there has been a corresponding drop-off in those "interesting links" blog posts.

As Tim Harford just tweeted (I still hate that word...)

"Twitter is siphoning off all the stuff we used to put on blogs that really wanted to be a tweet." http://bit.ly/g4u3Cp @doctorow on news

One the fascinating things about the medium is the way it has taken on a life of its own, being used pretty differently to how its creators intended.

So basically, you should really get yourself on twitter. You can always just dip your toe in and have a look around without actually signing up. You can also get my twitter RSS feed without signing up.

Links

1. An Economist leader on Conditional Cash Transfers: “The programmes have spread because they work. They cut poverty. They improve income distribution. And they do so cheaply.”

2. The School that Valentino and Dave built in Marial Bai.

3. Richard Dowden on Gordon Brown’s speech to the AU in Addis.

4. Suggestions from CGD for improving AGOA.

5. The financial returns to attractiveness are roughly similar for prostitution and the rest of the economy.

Links

1. Two new journalist-in-Sudan blogs - Alan Boswell and Jenn Warren (Photographer) - (via Petermartell.com)

2. My housemate in Juba has relented and finally started a blog - this doesn’t mean you have to stop spamming my inbox!

3. Ghana’s Oil Curse? Part One

4. Niggaz With Attitude

Links

1. Some pessimism from Becker and Posner on Africa’s growth prospects

2. Eritrea: Africa’s North Korea

3. Gettin’ by: Rural teaching

4. Great charities are born not made

Links

1. A reminder that Easterly actually does great research as well as snark

2. Why Southern Sudan should be called "the Nile Republic"

3. A Glimpse Into the Awesome World of Meetings

4. AidThoughts on the J-Pal research on education information

5. Economics proves that England, or Brazil, will win the World Cup

Links

1. New ODI blog on EU development cooperation http://international-development.eu/
2. Africa's journalists are under attack - why the rest of us should help http://tinyurl.com/28q83bm
3. Development policy under the new UK government - some background: http://is.gd/c7lsg
4. Hal Varian (Google's Chief Economist) on the Newspaper business http://tinyurl.com/2fdjaqr
5. Kayak.com Cofounder Paul English Plans to Blanket Africa in Free Wireless Internet http://tinyurl.com/33a4k53
6. All the research, 1/40 the size! | Innovations for Poverty Action http://poverty-action.org/node/2912
7. Technology linked to happiness http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/10108551.stm

Twitter Round-up

1. The Guardian is backing the Lib Dems http://tinyurl.com/2vsxzuj
2. New blog from DFID India's Economist (via @owenbarder) http://tinyurl.com/2d9v7ek
3. RachelStrohm Amartya Sen on Adam Smith - well worth a read http://j.mp/cfdWAg
4. ilovemigrants Check out the I Love Migrants website! http://ilovemigrants.wordpress.com/
5. bill_westerly comrade-in-arms barbarian egonomist @rovingbandit #followfriday
6. The Economist backs the Conservatives http://tinyurl.com/2bxfo39
7. sunny_hundal RT @moogyboobles: #iloveimmigrants because I'm a human being and we share a planet with other human beings.
8. TimHarford On @r4today this morning figuring out how big the mystery spending cuts will be after the election. £1350 - £2000 per household per year
9. xtophercook I'm going to Germany next month - bit worried. I might be assaulted by their dangerously hung parliament.
10. Only Liberal Democrats would end child detention | Alex Morrison http://tinyurl.com/28vdrgv
11. RIP, Angus Maddison http://tinyurl.com/29ms5ff
12. jjaron RT @RichardA: Debate advice for Nick Clegg: in answer to every question, slam down fist on podium and roar "I'm Nick fucking Clegg!"
13. stephenfry Frankly I'm tempted to vote Lib Dem now. If we let the Telegraph and Mail win, well, freedom and Britain die.
14. oliver_m_wright Great artists (satirical) map of London, can be seen at the British Library! http://icio.us/igo2st
15. owenbarder RT @GlenTarman: 1 million children <5 will probably die around the world during UK election + no Q from SKY on world poverty #LeadersDebate
16. Hey Sudanese abroad - GoSS is recruiting Directors - http://tinyurl.com/2exob2b
17. maggie4Enough Beautiful photos from Sudan's polls: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/scenes_from_sudan.html
18. IMF revises world growth forecasts up http://tinyurl.com/2f8dg82
19. loomnie RT @whiteafrican: "The Macroeconomics of Mobile Money" http://bit.ly/bHg3bl via @mpayconnect (via @creditsms)
20. corduk Check out @vote_global - an Int. Dev. Manifesto for the UK Gen. Election http://bit.ly/bkuMkI #ukelections #voteglobal

To follow me on Twitter go here: http://twitter.com/rovingbandit

Twitter Round-up

1. Could the Lib Dems win outright?
2. owenbarder Big and welcome news: the World Bank sets its data free: http://is.gd/bAmt8

3. Rigged in the north, more or less fair in the south - The Economist on Sudan elections

4. Give Your Vote http://www.giveyourvote.org/

5. Russia says Sudan elections fair by 'African standards' - er....

6. WTF?! Women to blame for earthquakes, says Iran cleric

7. owenbarder Development bloggers you should be reading: http://is.gd/bzfBQ

8. Spare a thought for exporters from poor countries

9. Why Humanity Loves, and Needs, Cities

10. KCB opening new branches across Southern Sudan

11. Set research free

12. What if NGOs had a customer care line?

13. Pro bono economics

14. Nigeria’s foreign trade policy (there isn't one)

15. Eritrea and Ethiopia's first ever “trending topic” on Twitter: #whereislemlem? http://tinyurl.com/yc65hvf

16. Sudan People's Liberation Movement is on twitter: @splmvoices

17. Dani Rodrik's father-in-law arrested on coup charges in Turkey

18. nancymbirdsall My op-ed in @GlobalPost on better aid to Haiti (and how trade & immigration matter even more!) http://bit.ly/9mP3oc
19. GorvidCamerown We're the party of the people, especially our own people. Join the Labservatives http://bit.ly/aHN0Bx
20. DrEvanHarris Yes my seat is marginal. 6% Tory swing will lose it. If you want to help pls email [email protected]. I'll suggest how u can. Thanks!
21. whiteafrican Direct lending platform between Sudanese diaspora to Sudanese business entrepreneurs: http://peacediv.com

22. Blattman: more MBAs for Africa

23. WrongingRights via @cblatts, African farmers team up to save impoverished British Theatre (video spoof) http://tinyurl.com/ycqhlk6. Hilarious!

24. 83% of UK election candidates are using Facebook in their campaign

25. robertcottrell What if the Rapture already happened, and only about three or four people disappeared, so few having met the standard? http://bit.ly/bzNbcG
26. robertcottrell How to cook bacon using a machine-gun: http://bit.ly/aUrREC

27. Tsvangirai marries his late wife's sister

28. Now is the time to cut $200bn a year in US & European farm subsidies

29. JoshRuxin One Laptop Per Child in Rwanda - enlightening piece in The Guardian: http://ow.ly/1rZS1

Weekly(ish) Twitter Links 29.03.10

• Gettin by in Vietnam
• RT: @alunmcdonald Trekking through dense congolese forest, halfway up a volcano, and still get internet and twitter. Amazing
• Chinese wages too high for coastal factories?
• @maggie4enough The brilliance of Jay-Z
• Tim Harford: Macroeconomics is witchcraft
• Information Is The New Coal
• RT: @gigglingbob New Post: Sudan Votes Music Hopes http://robrooker.com/blog/archives/527
• 1 in 5 Southern Sudanese are severely food insecure
• RT: @PeaceDividend Our website - www.peacediv.com - is LAUNCHED!!
• "Southern Sudan is on the rise - there’s a rumour that should be circulated in the press"
• RT: @robertcottrell @rovingbandit here's a browser Africa feed. http://thebrowser.com/taxonomy/term/59/feed
• er, Mr. Ibrahim? There aren't any Southerners running for president...
• RT: @JuliaThornton @susanmorgan: #Bashir on @CarterCenter: We will cut their fingers off, put them under our shoes, & throw them out. http://bit.ly/bBxs4h
• @maggie4Enough chapatti-beans are much better next to de-mining commission behind MoFEP - come for lunch
• [Juba] is home to a circus cast of outsiders who have flocked here since 2005: roughshod profiteers, UN drones in pressed shirts... ... bleeding heart aid workers, insta-fix briefcase consultants. http://tinyurl.com/ygdk3h5
• Nice long feature about Juba in the FT

10 Most Clicked (so far)

1. Blogging and Academia

2. Photo of the Day

3. Jigy-jigy

4. Elbadawi on the Game between Juba and Khartoum

5. Half of all Haitians wanted to permanently leave the country, even before the earthquake

6. Dear NGOs, Put some clothes on you scruffs!

7. Top 10 annoying things about people who complain about economists

8. All of political economy in one picture

9. Thursday Links

10. This rocks my world

I’m trying to look for patterns. Half of these are pictures/graphs/charts/tables. So you like pictures. Beyond that…

Weekly Twitter Links

• RT: @bill_westerly ayum sorry. i forgot 1 more #followfriday. Der axcellent nomad barbarian egonomist @rovingbandit. dood we should pillage togedder sometime.
• @ryanbriggs can you show us the data dance?
• @jrstahl wow Zenawi just compared VOA to Radio Milles Collines
• QOTD: Moses from Nigeria "I feel like I am part of the rest of the world when I am on the internet."
• RT: @kenyanpundit Aga Khan University to set up new graduate school for journalism in East Africa. #AfMediaConf
• Delong on the economics of blogging (anyone want to pay me?)
• Sudan Blogroll at VOA
• Collier: We should not assume the imprudent government is so stupid as to be honest

Weekly Twitter Links

• Acemoglu is writing a book on failed states
• @owenbarder Is DFID spending on COINS?
• Agricultural micro-insurance via SMS
• Charles Kenny: The revolution WILL be televised
• New blog from a "balding pseudo-economist battling civil service absurdities in the African heartland"
• CGD: Should donors support media in poor countries? (YES!!)
• Andrew Mwenda is blogging! Great article here on Rwandan politics
• RT @michael_clemens NY mayor Michael Bloomberg pleads for an immigration policy "based on reality" http://bit.ly/9bQECA
• RT @cblatts Is Uganda a good place to be gay? http://goo.gl/fb/yOG4
• Brazil puts trade sanctions on US
• Glenna Gordon on being gay in Uganda:
• QOTD: You wouldn’t want to be inside the sausage factory that is the GDP calculation in Chad

Weekly Twitter Links

• RT: @cblatts Funny because it’s true    
• Comic book tribute to Levi-Strauss    
• Women's rights make uneven advance in Middle East | FP Passport   
• New blog: Save the Children in Southern Sudan   
• Farm aid from space    
• Sudanese secession: "Like a divorce when you have kids"   
• Bashir has been chased out of Yei lasting only 6 minutes. They haven't forgotten the Antonovs   
• @texasinafrica read this first on geography and haiti   
• Fidgeting is good for you    
• UN Calls for Less Foreign Interference in Somalia. Er....

Weekly(ish) Twitter Links

• Polly Toynbee goes all anti-poor people
• Effective Habits of Budget Advisors (via MTEF)
• Sam Lampert's plea for developing country eGovernment solutions
• Niger coup Haiku by Paul Currion
• Great short article by Maggie Fick about life in Juba in the Guardian
• IMF sides with Labour on the UK deficit
• Collier on NGO accountability in Haiti
• RT: @CGDev Nancy Birdsall has a list of ten actionable items for promoting global prosperity this year. Any additions?
• Guest workers in Dubai sent home $10 billion in 2010. That is 10% of the entire global aid budget. 
•  Why are coups always led by colonels?
• RT @developingjen Reading Duflo/Banerjee's 'Putting a Band-aid on a Corpse: Incentives for Nurses in the Indian Public Health Care System' Optimistic are we?
• Four Ways Brain Drain out of Africa is a good thing
• Matt @ aidthoughts on ForeignPolicy.com
• Answer your critics Bill!
• RT @solarafrica Every 8 days as many children die from poverty as the number of people died in the Haiti earthquake - Esther Duflow #TED. via @hungerbites
• New google maps for Africa 
• Guinea pig meat may be solution to Congo hunger crisis (via econwatson)
• Carter Center close to eradicating Guinea worm from the face of the earth. Aid specialisation Works.
• via @owenbarder aid effectiveness briefing paper from ODI (by my classmate Cecilie!)
• Will Wilkinson likes pie. And the United Nations Fallacy. Me too. (via PhilipBlue via cblatts)

Links

1. Reporting on the Sudanese election

2. UN staff in Nairobi are not happy about the city being reclassified as safer

3. What the internet was made for: Photos of Chantal Biya's Hair

4. Round-up of gay rights activism in Africa

5. Mapumental: A ninja tool for helping you house or job hunt within Great Britain

Links

1. Why you should be angry about waste and inefficiency and corruption: His name is Khot.

2. Clemens on migration as the best way to help Haitians.

To say that we shouldn't because it wouldn't be the end-all solution is like saying that a lifeboat shouldn't fill its ten empty seats just because there are 100 people in the water.

3. Juba Diary: Part 3.

4. Statistics in the media.

5. Paul Romer on how to prevent skilled emigration weakening domestic policy in Jamaica: give voting rights to the diaspora.

6. UK Foreign Policy Watch: It's time we owned up to horrific abuses to Kenyans during the Mau Mau uprising.

7. Bad Contracting:

for years the state department had only one person in Iraq monitoring invoices during the early stages of the DynCorp contract, despite the complexity of the paperwork.

This meant many invoices were not questioned and as a result there is "no confidence in the accuracy of payments of more than $1bn to DynCorp", the report says."

8. The Newest Security Contractors in Iraq: Ex-combatants from Sierra Leone

9. Richard Dowden has a quasi-blog at the Royal African Society (no RSS feed)

Sunday Links

1. New evidence on Gender and attitudes to risk - nurture is more important than nature

2. New evidence on African exports - "While improvements in ports and customs and less bureaucracy will help exporters, the impact of improved inland transit is roughly five times greater."

3. An aid success story - the original M-PESA pilot was funded by DFID (via David Roodman's optimistic take on the future of microsavings)

4. Not a resolution - but my plan for 2010 is getting a "personal mba" (i.e. buying lots of business books). Partly inspired by the likes of Mootbox. Partly by excellent quotes like this:

"Maximum tolerance to failure" v. "idiot-proof". The second is some much pithier. Leave it to 'development' as a whole to over-complicate things. Leave it to business to get things done. 

It's one more reason why the methods of most modern NGOs are hopelessly unsuitable to making things happen: it takes a veteran author coining an elaborate phrase to sum up an idea every mediocre businessperson already knows.

Wednesday Links

1. Dear White House, All I want for christmas is a global development strategy (UK too please!)

2. The Twelve Days of Christmas (Aid Edition)™

3. The Secret Diary of a Kampala Call Girl

4. Assorted on Samuelson (but missing Dixit via Rodrik:

"If there is a heaven and if I am fortunate enough to make it there one day, I hope to take classes from him again. I am sure that, with his brilliant and precocious mind, he will have developed a beautiful heavenly model of it all, and will be able to say "God has it almost right, but..."")

5. The entire Eritrean national football team disappear whilst at a tournament abroad so they don't have to go home to Eritrea. FOR THE THIRD TIME!