FT’s John Gapper interviews MIT’s Esther Duflo

The weekend Financial Times is a real joy to read each week, this one was no exception. John Gapper’s luncheon interview with MIT economist Esther Duflo at a place off Harvard Square was perfect and it’s here.

What really intrigues me is Duflo’s field research methodology. Her conclusions are often counter-intuitive but quite brilliant I think. I’d like to see what she does married up with some of the advanced GIS agent-based modeling stuff that our own folks are doing, see here.

China’s Future

Time Magazine’s Michael Shuman has a really interesting piece on China here. In essence, he thinks the current state capitalism model in unsustainable because it sends inaccurate price signals which are creating huge distortions. Shuman sees China going the same way as Japan.

Shuman’s report is relevant apropos of yesterday’s blog entry here on Advanced Studies regarding some serious future challenges to international science.