Susannah Hares News Today

Italian rail company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane is developing a major plan for high-speed rail travel to six major European cities, including Amsterdam.

As we approach the year’s end, the Links are going on a hiatus, until the first or second week of January—I’m heading up to Northumberland next week to have a Christmas in the wilds, with grandparent-childcare, vast amounts of wine and port and several books to take advantage of the familial support.

Please join us in our London office for a conversation and afternoon tea with Dr. Rukmini Banerji, CEO, Pratham Education Foundation. Rukmini has spent over two decades studying education gaps in India. As a pioneer of ASER – an annual household survey of more than half a million families – Rukmini was one of the first to shed light on and draw attention to low levels of learning in India.

We’re losing legends at a frankly alarming rate: one week after I lamented the loss of Diana Kennedy, we open by lamenting the loss of Bill Russell. If you’re a basketball fan, Russell is to Jordan and LeBron what Thanos was to Loki: the big bad. We argue about whether LeBron (10 finals, 4 wins) or Michael Jordan (6 finals, 6 wins) was a better player; while in the background, this guy looms menacingly—13 seasons as a professional, 12 times in the finals, 11 times the winner.

This week's links include Guido Imbens and Josh Angrist on co-authoring, Peter Hull on his path to applied econometrics work, the illusion of robustness checks, and more...

We asked global thinkers like Malala, doctors dealing with the pandemic, educators and more — if you were in charge of the world, what would you like to see happen this year.

We asked global thinkers like Malala, doctors dealing with the pandemic, educators and more — if you were in charge of the world, what would you like to see happen this year.

Our Work With rigorous economic research and practical policy solutions, we focus on the issues and institutions that are critical to global development. Explore our core themes and topics to learn more about our work.

The Atlantic As Gloria Steinem said, “The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off.” Hulton Archive / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty / Adam Maida / The Atlantic In July, Clare Wenham—and her daughter, Scarlett, and Scarlett’s picture of a unicorn—went viral. Wenham researches global health policy at the London School of Economics, and she was giving an interview to the BBC about Britain’s attempts to manage the coronavirus pandemic. But Scarlett had another press...

Is the Global Partnership for Education Redundant? Format Or Is It a More Progressive, Democratic Alternative to the World Bank? Suppose a rich country, say the UK, wants to give foreign aid to improve education in a poor country, say Malawi. How should it go about that? There is an enormous literature comparing the cost-effectiveness of everything from buying free eyeglasses for students to paying performance bonuses to teachers. Who exactly should Her Majesty’s Treasury, in the UK’s case,...