Distinguished Professor of Economics, Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics, & Faculty co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA)
“We know that institutions matter: They transform the [scientific] dedication of individuals to the next generation,” remarked representatives of the Einstein Foundation Berlin as they awarded the Einstein Foundation Award for Promoting Quality in Research to BITSS on March 14.
Is there a relationship between climate change and conflict? In this episode of Lagos to Mombasa, Gyude speaks to Dr. Edward (Ted) Miguel, professor of economics at University of California Berkley, about the impact of rising temperatures, extreme droughts, and floods on competition for resources, and how governments can respond to climate change’s compounding impact in fragile regions.
When the state is weak, autocratic traditional chiefs control the provision of public goods. If they don’t have the technical skills that these tasks need, can delegation to technocrats or inclusive decision-making improve outcomes? Katherine Casey tells Tim Phillips about the results of an experiment in Sierra Leone.
Edward (Ted) Miguel is the Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics and co-Director of the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at Berkeley. After a famous early paper with Michael Kremer had him known as “that worms guy”, Ted has gone on to study a wide range of topics on African economic development, including health, infrastructure, ethnic divisions, violence (and even witchcraft), agricultural productivity, and vocational education. He has also been a leading voice in the movement towards greater transparency (helping popularize pre-analysis plans), and done important work on the environment and development before it was even trendy to do so.
This summer has been a parade of broken climate records. June was the hottest June and July was not just the hottest July but the hottest month ever on record. At the same time, it looks like we are at the start of a green revolution: Decarbonization efforts have gone far better than what many had hoped for just a few years ago, and renewable energy is getting cheaper.
A podcast about how Busia, Kenya, became the place where economists pioneered a more scientific way to study huge problems, from contaminated water to low graduation rates, to HIV transmission. And how that research changed government programs and aid efforts around the world.
