Its been a whirlwind two months in India and this is a post which has been in the pipeline for a while (hence the length). For those unaware of my current research project, I’m working on a study of Microfinance Self-Help Groups in villages near Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh. It is the first time that I have conducted a real survey. Needless to say, it has given me a deep appreciation of the process of data collection and work of the surveyor.
First, designing a questionnaire is not simply about putting …

Abortion is one of the most volatile social issues facing our country today. The country needs to redefine the abortion issue in the hope of gaining mutual support for accurate and honest problem identification and viable solution support. Perhaps the country is not nearly as divided as the political players would have us believe.

One of the major elements of the new healthcare bill worrying conservatives and ‘limited government’ voters alike is the bill’s mandate requiring U.S citizens to purchase health insurance. Whether this mandate is constitutional or not is a matter being debated by a handful of state attorney generals nationwide. Some, including Virginia’s attorney general, Kenneth Cuccinelli, are planning to sue the federal government, arguing that Congress lacks the proper authority to require U.S. citizens to purchase health insurance under the new bill. This “primer” is not intended to discuss this debate. Instead, it is intended to introduce one of the primary economic principles underlying the compulsory health plan mandate itself. This principle is called “adverse selection”. Once the concept of adverse selection has been explained, it should become clear that the Congressional mandate is probably necessary to bring about an efficient, cost-effective healthcare system – one that does not see insurance premiums skyrocket, which closes off coverage to all but those who are wealthy enough to afford these plans.

On a recent visit to Bogotá, Colombia, I witnessed how immense this city has become. Since 1950, Bogotá has grown from 700,000 inhabitants to approximately 8.5 million (estimate is inclusive of municipalities on the city’s periphery). Looking west from a friend’s terrace in the old colonial district of La Candelaria, I could see the city spreading across the vast Bogotá Savannah – a high plateau that rises to an average of 8500 feet above sea level in the Colombian Andes. However, this seemingly picturesque image conceals a …

The New York Times’ Economix blog has an interesting post on the health implications of agricultural policy. Their take-home message? “Thanks to lobbying, Congress chooses to subsidize foods that we’re supposed to eat less of.”
Economix cites a study by Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. Their writeup (actually from 2007) concludes:
The Farm Bill, a massive piece of federal legislation making its way through Congress, governs what children are fed in schools and what food assistance programs can distribute to recipients. The bill provides billions of dollars in …

When Olivia Golden became director of Washington D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency, she learned that approximately twenty children were staying at the Agency’s central office building each night. “Everybody’s first thought was that these children had just been removed from their homes, and that we didn’t have a place for them to be,” recalls Golden, who was appointed to lead the Agency out of federal receivership in 2001. “And we did have some solutions for that.” The agency’s leadership team worked to change policy to more easily recruit foster …

As my hometown of New Orleans basks in the glow of the Saints’ divinely ordained Super Bowl victory, the rest of the nation is using the opportunity to take stock of the city’s recovery. The pre-Mardi Gras and Super Bowl hoopla coincided with the city’s mayoral election, where Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu won with 64 percent of the vote.  While there might be general discomfort regarding the implications of a Landrieu political dynasty (his father was the last white Mayor the city has seen since the 70’s, his sister U.S. …

Catherine Rampell, writing for The New York Time’s Economix blog on January 28, ably describes how the “Great Recession” will affect the employment situation for millions of Americans. Basically, many of the jobs lost will be lost for good:
Lots of the bloodletting we’ve seen in the labor market has probably been permanent, not just cyclical. Many employers have taken Rahm Emanuel’s famed advice — never waste a crisis — to heart, and have used this recession as an excuse to make layoffs that they would have eventually done anyway. Some economists …

My commute to Hyde Park passes by the old Michael Reese hospital. Founded in 1881 and later rebuilt and expanded, the hospital’s buildings are being demolished. Harris students worked on a project before classes started that sought uses for the 2929 S. Ellis Ave. site if Chicago lost the 2016 Olympic bid. With the games going to Rio de Janeiro and plans scrapped for an Olympic Village at Reese, the area’s future is murky.
The 37-acre former hospital campus east of Martin Luther King Drive between 26th and 31st Streets is …