Developing Economies

December 29, 2015

How a Soap Opera Affected Brazil’s Fertility Rate

During the past 40 years, Brazil's fertility rates declined. One cause was the new values that soap operas conveyed to an uneducated rural population.

December 8, 2015

Where Toilets “Take a Village”

Shown by a project in rural India, building a sanitation network that includes toilets can eliminate open defecation and the disease it creates.

November 30, 2015

Marriage Markets in China and India

With son preference, limited fertility and social norms, China's and India's sex ratios at birth have created a male glut and new marriage markets.

November 5, 2015

Why It’s Tough to Place the Poverty Line

Whether calculating the poverty rate in Rwanda or in the U.S., the income and/or consumption variables you select determine your results.

November 2, 2015

Why China’s Two-Child Policy Might Not Work

Although China has said it will replace its one-child policy with a two child limit, small families remain a social norm that will be tough to change.

October 23, 2015

Why Our Kids Will Not Care For Us When We Are Old

Because of aging populations in the developed world and in China, concern about care for the elderly and rising dependency ratios have increased.

October 14, 2015

A Nobel Message on Health and Wealth

The 2015 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, Angus Deaton studied inequality through health and wealth and micro and macroeconomics.

September 16, 2015

Bringing The Martian Down to Earth

For pure enjoyment The Martian is a good read but also it helps us recognize how travel to Mars has and will have positive externalities on earth.

September 15, 2015

Why Doing Good is Not Always Easy

By recognizing the tradeoffs of recycling, preserving endangered species and improving world health, doing good could become more productive.

September 14, 2015

Part 2: How the Middle Income Trap Could Catch China

While some high middle income economies have slowed down and then accelerated again, using World Bank criteria, China's economic growth is tough to predict.

September 13, 2015

Part 1: The Trap That China Wants to Avoid

Currently slowing down, China's economic growth might be challenged by the middle income trap that has caught Brazil but not Taiwan or Malaysia.