Daily Skimm: The painting was a gift, Todd.

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Skimm for December 18th

Skimm’d after a holiday party.

QUOTE OF THE DAY “It’s very likely I would be a one-term president” — GOP presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson, setting the bar high. Skimm This

BILLS, BILLS, BILLS

THE STORY ‘Twas the night before vacation, and Congress still has a massive budget deal to pass. WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Congress needs to push through two big bills — a tax bill and a spending bill — that will keep the lights on in DC through next year. And neither has gotten a pass from both houses. Yesterday, the House passed the $622 billion tax bill  that gives businesses and low-income families tax breaks and freezes a controversial Obamacare tax. Now it’s on to the Senate. Meanwhile, the $1.1 trillion spending bill — which decides where money in the budget goes — would do things like lift a ban on exporting crude oil (a big win for the GOP) and provide incentives for people to use renewable energy sources (a big win for Dems). The spending bill is hoping to get OK’d tomorrow. HAVEN’T I HEARD ABOUT THIS BEFORE? Yup. There’s been a lot of back and forth and a lot of procrastination over these cash money decisions. The deadline to fund the gov. came and went last week. Instead of passing a budget deal, Congress passed a temporary measure to push the deadline to this week. Because who doesn’t like working when you’re eggnog hungover? theSKIMM Congress is using a word that hasn’t been in their vocabulary much over the past year: compromise. This budget deal has stocking stuffers for both Dems and Republicans. Now all Congress has to do is actually pass it. Merry merry. Skimm This

REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU FIND OUT THAT TOOL OF A BARISTA LOST HIS JOB… Sorry not sorry. Yesterday, pharmaceutical exec Martin Shkreli was arrested on securities and wire fraud charges. He’s that guy who recently added A LOT of zeros to the price tag of a drug sold by the company he runs, Turing Pharmaceuticals. The drug treats a rare infection, but can also be used as part of cancer and HIV treatments. It went from costing $13.50 to $750 a pill, landing him on everyone’s sh*t list. But these charges have nothing to do with all that, and are instead related to an alleged Ponzi scheme he ran as a hedge fund manager. In his spare time, he also enjoys taunting Bernie Sanders on Twitter, wearing hoodies, and reportedly spending $2 million on a Wu-Tang Clan album. #Keeper. Skimm This

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOUR FRIEND ASKS ABOUT YOUR WEEKEND PLANS… Hanging with Dem boyz and girls. Actually. Tomorrow night’s the third Democratic debate, hosted by ABC at 8PM EST. This time, candidates are gathering in a galaxy far, far, away: New Hampshire. And location is everything. New Hampshire’s the first state to have a primary next year, and a good indicator of how voters are feeling. It’s also one of the few states where Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) is giving Fmr. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton a run for her pantsuit. Sidenote: Fmr. Gov. Martin O’Malley (MD) will be there too. Yes, there are really only three candidates. This is the last debate of the year, so the three best friends that anyone could have might be looking to get feistier than in previous rounds. PS: we made you Skimm Libs  to print and fill out for when you start to fall asleep. Skimm This

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOUR ROOMMATE TEXTS THAT SHE HAD A BAD DAY… Meet me at the Bar. Speaking of…Bar Refaeli is suspected of tax evasion. You know her as the supermodel who dated Leonardo DiCaprio. Really narrows it down. The Israeli model and her mom allegedly didn’t report millions in income earned abroad and on luxury items. Think: Range Rover and Lexus cars she got for free in exchange for promotion. Hate when that happens. Now, Refaeli and her mom aren’t allowed to travel abroad for six months without permission. Skimm This

SKIMM READS “What Pretty Girls are Made Of” by Lindsay Jill Roth  Heard you need a vacation book. Voila. Think “The Devil Wears Prada” but for the beauty industry. By all means, do not read at a glacial pace. Skimm This

SKIMM WINE This read is good for relaxing. Especially with this white wine. You’re welcome.

SKIMM GIFT Punta Cana…not just your college spring break. We want you to go for five days. Flights paid. All-inclusive. That means lots of cocktail umbrellas. Enter here.

SKIMM LIFE Live. It’s Saaaaaaaturdayyyy night. And the Democratic debate is on. We have Skimm Libs to keep you awake.

SKIMM SHARE Sharing theSkimm makes the weekend start faster. Fact. Share with the button below.

SKIMM BIRTHDAYS *indicates Skimm’bassador. Cake cake cake cake. *Samantha Alperin (Memphis, TN); *Andrea Massimilian (Indianapolis, IN); *Emily Wilkins (Farmington Hills, MI); *Katie Goldberg (Chicago, IL); *Kiley Cowley (Lubbock, TX); *Lauren Casnovsky (Saint Paul, MN); *Justine Pinskey (Ann Arbor, MI); *Kati Depasse (Indianapolis, IN);*Rebecca Finer (Orlando, FL); *Angela Gurney (Salina, UT); *Kristin Knox (Louisville, MS); *Chandler Thompson (Greensboro, NC); *Haley Brown (Spokane, WA); *Angela Kapsiak (Cheektowaga, NY); *Samantha Satnick (Princeton, NJ); Karin Cole  (Los Angeles,CA); *Greta Fure (Minneapolis, MN); *Jonatha Basye (Poquoson, VA); *Sarah MacDonnell (Boston, MA); *Tammy Tibbetts (New York, NY); *Jeanne Abundis (Houston, TX); *Shannon Powell Rodocker (Columbus, OH); *Gaye Dean (Minneapolis, MN); *Hillary Rush (Glasgow, KY); *Ashleigh Mavros (Columbus, OH); *Montana Byrd (Alexandria, VA); *Stephanie Magill (Boulder, CO); *Elizabeth DePue (Chalfont, PA); *Saryah Leyton (Houston, TX); *Samantha Morisco (Santa Monica, CA); *Molly Seither (Louisville, KY);  Kristen Calogero (New York, NY); Eli Cohen (West Hartford, CT); Michael Sclafani (New York, NY); Katie Malcolm (Houston, TX); Alexis Maybank (New York NY) *Laila Moire-Selvage (San Francisco, CA); *Tatiana Anchondo (El Paso, TX); *Chandler Huston (Valencia, CA); *Jocelyn Paonita (Charleston, SC); *Joan Keesey (Dallas, TX); Gabrielle Ferrara (New York, NY); Becky Harmon (Lakeway, TX); Callie Schweitzer (New York, NY); Bahja Johnson (San Francisco, CA); Dalicia Blount (Brooklyn, NY); Ellen Prague  (Winter Park, FL); Kristen Jenkins (New York, NY); Mary Lynn Gage (La Jolla, CA); Ryann Leonard (New York, NY); Emily Ng (Hong Kong); Isabelle Hill (New York, NY); Jessica Redmond (Edmonton, AB); Bobby McMahon (New York, NY); Johanna Silver (Northbrook, IL); Kelly Brown (Charlottesville, VA); Meghan Andrews (New York, NY); Michelle McComb (San Mateo, CA); Pam Ross (Joliet, IL); Rebecca Uchneat (Hadley, MA); Samantha Robinson (Pasadena, CA); Hannah King (New York, NY); Barbara Mchale (Greenwich, CT);  Sarah Gannett (Richmond, VA); Shannon Roark (Chelmsford, MA); Ilia Morales Toledo (San Juan, PR); Megan Freshley (Portland, OR); Heather Darazs (Washington, DC); Diana Spurgat (New York, NY); Emma Kravitz  (Denver, CO); Jeanie Chang (Staten Island, NY); Evie Sarkes (Baltimore, MD); Susan Larson (Brighton, MI); Lauren Bryant (New York, NY); Deborah Steele (Hershey, PA); Leigh Sevin (Miami, FL); Liz Strahm (Indianapolis, IN); Gwen Palmer (New York, NY); Melissa Haas (Bellevue, WA); Stephanie Rickabaugh  (Philadelphia, PA); Patti Williamson (Camp Hill, PA); Ryan Rich (Palatine, IL); Kelley Hyta (Portland, OR); Terri Sandblom (Pawtucket, RI); Rita Losefson (Plainview, NY); Kerry Mahony (Boston, MA); Sarah Abboud (Pittsburgh, PA); Rachel Litt (San Francisco, CA); Sarah Rabin Spira (Washington, DC); Rich Wiltfang (Brunswick, GA); Noelle Geckle (Los Angeles, CA); Morgan Rog-Urman (Washington, DC); Randi Amalfitano (New York, NY); Dorothy Russ (Jacksonville, FL)

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[New post] IPA’s Weekly Links

Jeff Mosenkis (IPA) posted: "Guest post by Jeff Mosenkis of Innovations for Poverty Action. Planet Money has a good episode analyzing an ISIS municipal budget, some interesting tidbits – ISIS fighters are paid in dollars, they like to buy Axe Body Spray, and ISIS issues looting p" New post on Chris Blattman IPA’s Weekly Links by Jeff Mosenkis (IPA) Guest post by Jeff Mosenkis of Innovations for Poverty Action. Planet Money has a good episode analyzing an ISIS municipal budget, some interesting tidbits – ISIS fighters are paid in dollars, they like to buy Axe Body Spray, and ISIS issues looting permits. And if you like that, IPA's Great Holiday Travel Podcast Playlist is here. Priceonomics has a fun story about how modern statistical hypothesis testing and sampling started with a Guinness brewer. The New Yorker on how we handle (or don't) refugee mental health with the story of a former Sierra Leone child soldier trying to adjust to life in Minnesota. Paper: Using Bayesian hierarchical models to synthesize microcredit studies (PDF, via Rachel Glennerster). Yelp for Pakistani artificial insemination and many other interesting job market papers are on the Development Impact Blog. Reuters has an update from Burundi. There's a big Guide To Bad Data from Quartz, including how to fix common formatting headaches, which numbers to be suspicious of, and why not to trust spreadsheets with 65,536 rows (the limit in older versions of Excel, which means that original data might have had more lines). And a company selling bottled Canadian air as a novelty product was surprised to find it flying off the shelves in China, which has been experiencing high pollution levels.   Top image from Flickr/thibaut_demare/ Jeff Mosenkis (IPA) | December 17, 2015 at 12:19 pm | Tags: Burundi, China, economics, Planet Money, pollution, statistics | Categories: conflict, links, miscellany, news, statistics, violence | URL: http://chrisblattman.com/?p=13216 Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Chris Blattman. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://chrisblattman.com/2015/12/17/ipas-weekly-links-40/

Daily Skimm: Get up, stand up

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Skimm for December 17th

Skimm’d while strategizing how to get Adele tickets this morning

QUOTE OF THE DAY “Watch yourself to sleep” - The tagline for Netflix’s new DIY project: socks that detect when you’re falling asleep and automatically pause your show. And they won’t even ask to cuddle after.  Skimm This

SO YOU'RE SAYING YOU'RE INTERESTED...

THE STORY  After a longggg dry spell, the Fed got some yesterday. It raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade.  WHY SO LONG?  A bad date called the financial crisis. Since ’08, the Fed’s been keeping rates near zero — thinking that if it’s cheaper for consumers to borrow money, they might do economy-boosting things like buy a house or car. The Fed’s been waiting…and waiting…for the economy to get its groove back so it could raise interest rates. It looked like the raise might happen over the summer. It didn’t. Then it looked like it might happen over the fall. It didn’t again . SO WHY NOW?  Job growth’s looking good and the US economy’s expanding. But inflation - aka the rate of how much the prices of goods are rising- hasn’t gone up as much as the Fed would like. That’s thanks to things like low oil prices. But the Fed thinks-slash-hopes those gas pains are just temporary.  theSKIMM This is the Fed letting the US economy do its own thing, and praying it doesn’t F it up. It’s a big vote of confidence that some feel is way overdue — while others wonder whether it’s too soon. Your move, economy. Skimm This

REPEAT AFTER ME...

WHAT PEOPLE ARE WATCHING… Baltimore, MD. Yesterday, a judge there declared a mistrial in the case of police officer William Porter, one of the officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. Reminder: Gray was arrested earlier this year after running away from police; he later died from a spinal cord injury he got while in police custody. After his death, mostly peaceful protests erupted in Baltimore  that later turned violent. Five other officers were charged in Gray’s death, but Porter is the first to go to trial. After days of talking it out, the jurors said they couldn’t all agree on a verdict. So the judge declared a mistrial. After the announcement yesterday, protesters started gathering in the city. No word on the new trial date, but yesterday Gray’s family asked the public to “remain calm.” Skimm This

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU CAN’T GET ‘STAR WARS’ TICKETS… Not a real problem. Yesterday, North Korea sentenced a Canadian pastor to life in prison with hard labor. Over the summer, Hyeon Soo Lim publicly confessed to trying to overthrow the country’s government. But Lim’s family isn’t buying the confession. They say he was in North Korea on a humanitarian trip. But when North Korea took him into custody back in February, it charged him with things like ‘harming the dignity of the supreme leadership’ and ‘trying to use religion to destroy the North Korean system.’ And staring curiously at Kim Jong-un’s haircut. Apparently Canada’s been trying to contact Lim, but North Korea isn’t exactly the best at returning phone calls. Skimm This

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU CALL IN ‘SICK’ THE DAY AFTER YOUR HOLIDAY PARTY… I’ve caught the affluenza. Two years ago, a Texas teenager killed four people in a drunk driving crash. His lawyers used “affluenza” as a defense, saying the 16-year-old was a rich kid who never had limits set for him. He was sentenced to probation, to which the rest of the world said ‘seriously, that’s it?’ Now, it appears that he and his mother have gone missing. There’s a warrant out to have him detained. And a warning that he might be contagious. Skimm This

WHAT TO SAY TO YOUR FRIEND WHO PAINTED HIS FACE FOR THE WORLD CUP… Yesterday was Abby Wambach’s last game. And now she wants you to forget her. Skimm This

THING TO KNOW Bowe Bergdahl: That soldier everyone keeps talking about. Also the star of “Serial” season two. We Skimm’d it for you.  Skimm This

SKIMM SHARE Sharing theSkimm has its perks. Like a trip to Hawaii. We’ll be announcing the winner on Insta today. Aloha, victory. Share theSkimm with the button below. Good things happen when you do.

SKIMM BIRTHDAYS * indicates Skimm’bassador. Frost yourself. *Amy Howe (Chevy Chase, MD); *Katie Forbes (Greenlawn, NY); *Ashley Olsson (Chapel Hill, NC); *Erica Tyler (Poughkeepsie, NY);  *Mary Frances Dohn (Wilmington, NC); *Ashley Edwards (San Antonio, TX); *Corinna Evans (Tampa, FL); *Kate Hursh (Chicago, IL); *Mary Stuart King (Columbia, SC); *Miriam Pinchevsky (Hoboken, NJ); *Marisa Love (Kansas City, MO); *Jessica Hogue (Champaign, IL); *Ciara Young  (Naples, FL); *Ronit Elshtein Miglietta (Southington, CT); *Michelle Tarangelo (Tallahassee, FL); *Kacie Krause (Plano, TX); *Rafi Jakubovic (Westfield, NJ); *Shira Gaffney (New York, NY); *Lisa Tschauner (Hastings, NE); *Madelyn Collins (Prairie Village, KS); *Sydney Hertz (Atlanta, GA); *Miriam Brondello (Lafayette, CA); *Molly Swain (Orinda, CA); *Nikki Kaul (Charlottesville, VA); Ken Iscol (Pound Ridge, NY) ; Ali Laumann  (Barrington, IL); Berlyn Boswell (New York, NY); Colleen Ellsworth (Worcester, MA); Gina Originario (San Francisco, CA); Lindsay Bretschger (New York, NY); Jessica Whyte (Orangeville, ON, Canada); JoAnn Tuttle-Holub (Piermont, NY); Kalypso Longinotti-Buitoni (Boulder, CO); Kenny Kiser (Minneapolis, MN);  Sarah Kushner (New York, NY); Karishma Jhalani  (New Delhi, India); Kika Caparisos (Boca Raton, FL); Krenza Ortiz (Colorado Springs, CO); Kristen Daukas  (Winston-Salem, NC); Katie Holmes (New York, NY); Laura Marcontell (Atlanta, GA); Leah Hubbard (Charlotte, NC ); Macey Kessler (Athens, GA); Maggie Meagher (St Andrews, UK); Mar Deniz (Paris, France); Marika Meertens (Boulder, CO); Ben Jacks (Brooklyn, NY); Rebekah Daggett (New Market, VA); Stephanie Belcher (Atlanta, GA); Wes Stone (Dallas, TX); Arnota Cornelius (Dayton, OH); Emily Johnson (Las Vegas, NV); James Foy  (Beacon, New York); Luanna Ragland (Kansas City, KS); Grace McRae (Boston, MA); Jill Smith (New York, NY); Eileen Elliott  (Hudson, OH); Elizabeth Wales (Midland, TX); Anna Mary Reichert (Cary, NC); Cielle Collins (Portsmouth, NH)

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[New post] This new book probably comes closer than any other to how I teach international development

Chris Blattman posted: "Steve Radelet has a new book, The Great Surge, about why so many countries have risen out of poverty in the past half century. There are many good things about it, but most of all, it's the best introduction to development I've seen for a lay audience, in" New post on Chris Blattman This new book probably comes closer than any other to how I teach international development by Chris Blattman Steve Radelet has a new book, The Great Surge, about why so many countries have risen out of poverty in the past half century. There are many good things about it, but most of all, it's the best introduction to development I've seen for a lay audience, including students. (And for the development experts, it's a great Christmas present for parents who, after all these years, still don't understand what you do.) About eight years ago I started teaching an introductory class on development. I wanted to give undergraduates a sense of why, after so many years of trouble, so many developing countries were growing richer and more democratic, and why others were not. I also wanted them to think critically about the ways in which the West affects the developing world, from trade to aid to statecraft to military invasions. Very quickly the class veered in an unexpected direction: history. Today, the average undergraduate that walks into my class was minus six when the Cold War ended. This might be obvious if you're 20 years old. But whenever I point it out to my 40- and 50-year old colleagues, it stops them in their tracks. Maybe they're just feeling extra old in that moment, but maybe it's dawning on them how hard it is to talk about where countries are today without a sense of recent history. What I found was this: to teach why so many countries democratized in the 1990s, I had to teach the tumult of the 1980s. To explain the economic meltdowns and skyrocketing civil wars of the 1980s, I had to talk about the political systems that were built in the 1960s and 1970s. To explain those I had to teach colonial history and politics. And so on. Of course I didn't know half that history myself, and over several years of teaching the class I tread more and more, until one day I was no longer just making it up at the front of the class. (Well, I still fake it a little bit.) You see, an economics education does many wonderful things, but it doesn't give you a sense of history and policy. I had to teach myself two hundred years of politics and events before I got back to familiar areas where respectable economists wrote papers, about the legacies of settler economies and slavery, or the growth of states and markets in Europe. Filling this gap seems to be Steve's aim too. He was an official in the US State Department, USAID, the U.S. Treasury, and the Center for Global Development before he settled at Georgetown University a few years ago, and this is a book that draws on his experiences in Washington, Indonesia, and Liberia alongside academic literature.He's also been a friend and colleague for many years. This isn't exactly the book I'd write. I'd want to write one that is a little closer to the social science literature---a little more geared for the intermediate reader than the introductory one. And a little easier to teach from. But then, if I did that, your parents probably would not want to read it. Recommended, for you or for that parent. Chris Blattman | December 16, 2015 at 10:05 am | Categories: books, development, economics, history, international relations, political science | URL: http://chrisblattman.com/?p=13024 Comment    See all comments Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Chris Blattman. Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://chrisblattman.com/2015/12/16/this-new-book-probably-comes-closer-than-any-other-to-how-i-teach-international-development/