This week's links include why solar doesn't scale in Africa, testing for scale at the same time as efficacy, why honest work can still be bad, and more.
Social scientists have increasingly turned to the experimental method to understand human behaviour. One critical issue that makes solving social problems difficult is scaling up the idea from a small group to a larger group in more diverse situations. The urgency of scaling policies impacts us every day, whether it is protecting the health and safety of a community or enhancing the opportunities of future generations. Yet, a common result is that, when we scale up ideas, most experience a ‘voltage drop’—that is, on scaling, the cost–benefit profile depreciates considerably. Here I argue that, to reduce voltage drops, we must optimally generate policy-based evidence. Optimality requires answering two crucial questions: what information should be generated and in what sequence. The economics underlying the science of scaling provides insights into these questions, which are in some cases at odds with conventional approaches. For example, there are important situa
In a new paper forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Perspectives, we look at what recent literature has taught us about the effectiveness of job training programs
Three to Receive UW Honorary Degrees May 13 | News | University of Wyoming uwyo.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from uwyo.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.