Jing-Rong Zeng
@jingrong-rosa.bsky.social
Researching political economy & conflicts
We’re excited to introduce the 1st cohort of Next-Geo - our new research & training program for the next generation of geoeconomists. Funded by @stiftungmercator.bsky.social and implemented in cooperation with @cepr.org, @oxfordecondept.bsky.social & IEP@Bocconi!
www.thestandard.com.hk/sup/national... "Several Hong Kong politicians reminded the public that the government maintains a zero-tolerance stance toward acts endangering national security and urged all sectors of society to stay highly vigilant."
Politicians warn HK scholars against attending Taiwan’s Hong Kong Studies conference
Hong Kong politicians have warned local academics not to take part in the upcoming third Hong Kong Studies academic conference hosted by Academia Sinica in Taipei.
thestandard.com.hk
Christian missions in colonial Congo weakened kin and ethnic ties, eroded communal values, and durably redirected loyalties toward religious affiliation, from @abergeron.bsky.social https://www.nber.org/papers/w34262
The Flemish government’s unexpected decision not to renew IOB’s agreement puts €2.64M funding, 32 jobs, key programmes and global partnerships at risk. Support us! https://bit.ly/saveIOB #saveIOB #developmentpolicy #developmentpolicy #iobcommunity
Over the next 18 months, the United States will overhaul its role in global health. A new state department policy, published on Friday, outlines a slower, more orderly pullback than this year’s abrupt closure of USAID.
A more orderly aid exit, but an exit all the same
America has a new plan to pull back from global health funding, but it still wants out.
continent.substack.com
I've been working on a new tool, Refine, to make scholars more productive. If you're interested in being among the very first to try the beta, please read on. Refine leverages the best current AI models to draw your attention to potential errors and clarity issues in research paper drafts. 1/
"...Anciens Établissements Eiffel had originally planned to send the materials to Vietnam to build railway bridges. However, due to France's withdrawal and the Cold War, these materials were instead sent to Taiwan by the US as aid for the construction of the Central Cross-Island Highway."
The Eiffel Tower’s Secret Connection to Taiwan
YouTube video by TaiwanPlus Docs
youtube.com
Finally read the @thelancet.com article claiming US foreign assistance cuts will lead to 14mill deaths up to 2030 which has garnered much media attention. It's problematic to say the least, X-country regression with mortality on left and US spending per head on right. 1/ 🧵
Just published in @jpube.bsky.social: "Landmines: The local effects of demining" By Mouno Prem, Miguel E. Purroy, & @jvargas.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #econsky
New R package alert: 📦 mbg for model-based geostatistics Run spatial ML & geostatistical models to estimate continuous surfaces from point data + raster covariates. Built on sf, terra, data.table, caret, and R-INLA. https://cran.r-project.org/package=mbg #rspatial #rstats #geostatistics
❓Why do the Nordics & Dutch speak English so much better than the Germans, Italians & French? ➡️ New Working Paper: Out-of-School Learning: Subtitling vs. Dubbing and the Acquisition of Foreign-Language Skills w/ F. Baumeister & E. Hanushek www.nber.org/papers/w33984 A 🧵 1/12
Researcher assumptions shape not just how experiments run—but what questions we ask. Outlining best practices for designing context-aware lab experiments in non-Western settings, from Sara Lowes and @nathannunn.bsky.social https://www.nber.org/papers/w33981
Subjects who play the risky but efficient action in a simple coordination game are more likely to cooperate in repeated games: susceptibility to strategic uncertainty matters for cooperation, from Pedro Dal Bó and Guillaume Fréchette https://www.nber.org/papers/w33980
Great report on Uganda’s economic and political interests in Eastern DRC—its competition with Rwanda, tactics to secure its influence, and ties with Nande elites. Very informative!
Kristof Titeca@kristoftiteca.bsky.social · last yr.Happy to have this report out on Uganda's role in DRC, with Giovanni Salvaggio - in which we document Uganda's ambiguous role, and the role of infrastructure, roads and trade
Derrière le "deal" à la Trump entre la #RDCongo et le #Rwanda "l’exportation de minerais à l’état brut rappelle le pacte colonial d’autrefois, lorsque le cuivre et l’uranium étaient extraits du Katanga pour être traités en Belgique" écrit Colette Braeckman dans l'edito de notre lettre hebdomadaire⤵️
Rwanda-RD Congo. Le deal à la Trump
ÉDITO LE « DEAL » DE TRUMP CONFRONTÉ AUX RÉALITÉS DE LA RD CONGO Par Colette Braeckman Enfin un succès. Tous satisfaits, fiers d’eux-mêmes et confiants dans l’avenir… Depuis la signature de (…)
afriquexxi.info
"We use our estimates on the impact of Gavi funding on child mortality to calculate the number of lives saved by Gavi support, which is approximately 1.5 million lives." Kartini Shastry & Daniel Tortorice's research highlights the importance of Gavi ⤵️ voxdev.org/topic/health...
Effective health aid: Evidence from Gavi’s vaccine programme
Coordinated health aid for vaccination has increased coverage rates and saved the lives of children around the world.
voxdev.org
With the price of gold climbing to new records every month, eastern Botswana has become inundated with unlicensed miners who are reopening old mines to scrape for leftovers. They leave behind gaping holes, eroded grasslands and water sources contaminated by the mercury used to extract gold.
Gold’s deadly glitter
Littered with abandoned gold mines, eastern Botswana is drawing hundreds of informal prospectors as the precious metal’s price smashes records.
continent.substack.com
the culprit here is variation in the size of geographic units being displayed. One possible way to try to overcome that is to interpolate to a consistent zonal system bsky.app/profile/paul... knaaptime.com/urban_analys...
Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham@paulgp.com · last yr.Reupping this blog post by @kjhealy.co which is why I stopped using chloropleth maps kieranhealy.org/blog/archive...
Here's the text version of that investigation into Rwanda's covert three-and-a-half-year war in Democratic Republic of Congo. It was a pleasure working alongside the team at NBC. www.nbcnews.com/world/africa...
Hidden invasion: Rwanda's covert war in the Congo
Leaked reports, satellite images and interviews reveal the extent of Rwanda's shadow war in the Congo, as the U.S. tries to strike a deal for peace and access to the region's minerals.
nbcnews.com
"Organized #crime groups in #Africa have embedded themselves in #gold supply chains to such a degree that they now present “a serious global threat,” a new #UN report warned" www.semafor.com/article/05/2...
📚 Who protects artisanal miners? This literature review delves into how formal and informal associations shape social protection in eastern DRC’s artisanal mining sector—where miners often view cooperatives as both support and source of conflict. loom.ly/ycRetnU #ArtisanalMining #SocialProtection
You can get announcements about new economics working papers in your field(s) in various ways: email, Mastodon, BlueSky (see started pack below) nep.repec.org #RePEc #Economics
NEP feeds for new economics papers, by field.
Join the conversation
bsky.app
ipisresearch.be/weekly-brief...
IPIS Briefing August 2020 - Persistent violence in gold-rich Ituri Province, DR Congo : root causes and impact on local population
The IPIS briefing offers a selection of articles, news and updates on natural resources, armed conflict, Business & Human Rights and arms trade. Every month, an editorial and related publications she...
ipisresearch.be
What do Kenya’s refugees think of the aid cuts that slashed rations and services? Dadaab Voices – a project between The New Humanitarian and Radio Gargaar – spoke to 10 refugees about how it’s impacting their lives.
Dadaab Voices: What aid cuts mean for Kenya’s refugees
WFP will cut food assistance to refugees to just 28% of a full ration – the lowest level ever recorded in Kenya.
buff.ly
📉 Global trust is in crisis A new WIDER Working Paper by @apvjustino.bsky.social and Melissa Samarin reveals how declining trust in governments and between people is weakening the social fabric in countries around the world. 📄 Read the paper: go.unu.edu/LqJgS...
What happens when we view protests not as static episodes, but as dynamic contests with distinct phases—rising tensions and potential concessions? Read today's article w/ Sofía Correa to learn more:
VoxDev@voxdev.bsky.social · last yr.🆕 War of attrition in the streets: Rethinking the dynamics of protest participation Today on VoxDev, Sofía Correa (Universidad de Chile) presents an economic model describing the strategic behaviour of both protesters and the government: voxdev.org/topic/instit...
🚨 New publication 🚨 : Happy to share that my paper, "Losing Touch: The Rhetorical Cost of Governing" is now forthcoming at @cpsjournal.bsky.social. Short 🧵 about the paper here 👇 1/10
