Oliver Kim
@global-developments.org
Development economics and economic history. Research Fellow at Open Philanthropy. PhD Berkeley, AB Harvard. Views my own. Blog: www.global-developments.org Personal: www.oliverwkim.com
What were the causes of South Korea's export miracle? My new paper w @philippbarteska, @straightedge, @seung_econ explores a major overlooked factor: U.S. military procurement during the Vietnam War. We bring new evidence to the Q of how geopolitics shapes development. 🧵:
My year-end post on Global Developments is up—if you have any comments / feedback over the previous year of posts, please chime in! One Year of Global Developments: www.global-developments.org/p/one-year-o...
One Year of Global Developments
Looking Backward, Looking Ahead
global-developments.org
was tinkering with some OCR and decided to update an old econ history OCR example. What a difference a couple of years makes: old: github.com/apoorvalal/h... new: github.com/apoorvalal/h...
historical_data_extraction/DocParse.ipynb at master · apoorvalal/historical_data_extraction
minimal example of layoutparser use. Contribute to apoorvalal/historical_data_extraction development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
Quick 🧵 on American aid spending, to accompany my new Substack (link below) US aid obligations have remained remarkably steady in real terms since WWII, rarely exiting a band of $20-60 billion in 2023 dollars. Surprisingly, the year with the most aid obligations was... 1948!
Striking set of graphs from @global-developments.org - for years South Korea & Taiwan received more US aid than all of Africa combined www.global-developments.org/p/a-world-wi...
New 🌐Global Developments🌐 post: How Do Exchange Rates Work, Anyway? Folk wisdom, dollar dominance, and hot money www.global-developments.org/p/how-do-exc...
How Do Exchange Rates Work, Anyway?
Folk wisdom, dollar dominance, and hot money
global-developments.org
New 🌐Global Developments🌐 post: How Do Exchange Rates Work, Anyway? Folk wisdom, dollar dominance, and hot money www.global-developments.org/p/how-do-exc...
How Do Exchange Rates Work, Anyway?
Folk wisdom, dollar dominance, and hot money
global-developments.org
Excellent post from @global-developments.org (with a moving personal story). No, South Korea Was Not Poorer Than Kenya in 1960 www.global-developments.org/p/no-south-k...
No, South Korea Was Not Poorer Than Kenya in 1960
With A Personal Coda
global-developments.org
In 1960, South Korea and Taiwan were educational outliers. Hugely important graph by @global-developments.org, echoing a point made in @drodrik.bsky.social (1995). This fact is crucial to understanding East Asia’s economic success.
New Post: Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen? And Other Simple Questions www.global-developments.org/p/why-did-th...
Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen?
And Other Simple Questions
global-developments.org
New Post: Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen? And Other Simple Questions www.global-developments.org/p/why-did-th...
Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen?
And Other Simple Questions
global-developments.org
My colleague @MacabeKeliher just published this excellent article about the role of Taiwan Machinery Manufacturing Corporations, as SOE, in Taiwan's postwar economic development. Part of what he calls the "archival turn" in studies of the developmental state. Interesting stuff!
I always loved Lee Kuan Yew's description of Korean protest: "The Koreans are a fearsome people. When they riot, they are as organized and nearly as disciplined as the riot police who confront them... When their workers and students fight in the streets... they look like soldiers at war."
Pseudoerasmus@pseudoerasmus.bsky.social · 2y agoSome have expressed surprise Koreans seem so militant but that's been true fr 60+ years. Mass protests drove Syngman Rhee from power in 1960; the big (& suppressed) Gwangju revolt in 1980 & of course, mass demonstrations forced the democratic transition in 1987; not to mention all the labour strife!
What do we call a poor country—"underdeveloped", "developing", an "emerging market"? A potted history (and Global Dev post) on our changing words for poverty—the rhetoric of underdevelopment:
What do we call a poor country—"underdeveloped", "developing", an "emerging market"? A potted history (and Global Dev post) on our changing words for poverty—the rhetoric of underdevelopment:
The AEA/ASSA meetings are in SF in January. Workers at several conference hotels, including 2 headquarters hotels, are on strike. @aaronsojourner.org put together a very useful explainer. aaronsojourner.org/hotel-worker...
Hotel workers' strike and the 2025 ASSA annual meeting - Aaron Sojourner
By Hannah Archambault, Jennifer Cohen, and Aaron Sojourner Are you planning to attend the 2025 ASSA meetings in San Francisco? If so, then you are planning to attend events at a hotel where the empl...
aaronsojourner.org
New paper shows that recent $15+ minimum wage hikes have no disemployment effects. static1.squarespace.com/static/5e0fd...
🚨 New Blog! 🚨 GDP is everywhere in development. But in Zambia in 2010, the national accounts were prepared by just one (1!) person. How much can we trust developing country GDP? A 🧵 and post on Morten Jerven's 2013 classic, Poor Numbers, on how African GDP is actually made—
🚨 New Blog! 🚨 GDP is everywhere in development. But in Zambia in 2010, the national accounts were prepared by just one (1!) person. How much can we trust developing country GDP? A 🧵 and post on Morten Jerven's 2013 classic, Poor Numbers, on how African GDP is actually made—
Q: why does Gujarat have a higher industrial share than other Indian states? Is this a longstanding historical difference, the product of policy, something else? (Chart from Data for India)
Post a picture you took (no description) to bring some zen to the timeline
Saloni@scientificdiscovery.dev · 2y agoPost a picture you took (no description) to bring some zen to the timeline
I made a Google quiz using the poems listed on the paper’s OSF site if you want to try your luck at guessing which are human and which are LLM. forms.gle/nGCGawDb9c6f...
Google Forms: Sign-in
Access Google Forms with a personal Google account or Google Workspace account (for business use).
forms.gle
Ted Underwood@tedunderwood.com · 2y agoNew article co-authored by Machery shows that non-expert readers cannot distinguish AI-written poetry from poetry by human authors and rate AI-generated poems more favorably. "Non-expert poetry readers ... mistakenly interpret their own preference for a poem as evidence that it is human-written."
ok I've figured out how to add people now, I thought someone would have already made this but does not appear to be so... Growth & Development Starter Park (distinct from economic history starter packs of which there are TWO already ;-) go.bsky.app/SmQgVK4
It's alive! My book now has a webpage on the University of California Press @ucpress.bsky.social website: www.ucpress.edu/books/in-the... Will be available open access in April 2025!
In the Global Vanguard by James Lin - Paper
Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.
ucpress.edu
