Andrew Wilson’s alma mater continues to develop excellent breaststrokers as the Denison Invite kicked off with long course time trials. (Jake Meyer pictured)
This week's links include a podcast on African firm experiments, issues using text analysis and causal inference, a conference in an unusual MidWestern place, and more.
Weekly links April 9: Indian education policy, rubber banding as anti-poverty strategy, problems with complicated PAPs, publishing tips, and more…
· BU’s The Brink on Mario Kart as an analogy for what social and economic programs need to do “the idea is a lot like the way that Mario Kart gives players falling behind in the race the best power-ups, designed to bump them towards the front of the pack and keep them in the race. Meanwhile, faster players in the front don’t get these same boosts, and instead typically get weaker powers, such as banana peels to trip up a racer behind them or an ink splat to disrupt the other players’ screens. This boosting principle is called “rubber banding,” and it’s what keeps the game fun and interesting, Bell says, since there is always a chance for you to get ahead. “And that’s exactly what we want to do in development,” he says. “And it is really, really difficult to do.””