Drug Dealers and Mothers

Steven Levitt and Stephan Dubner explore the world of drug dealers in chapter 3 of their book Freakanomics. They begin by painting the picture of a man, J.T., who was a leader of a crack selling gang in Chicago, the Black Disciples. J.T. is a black educated man who worked in a high paying job … Continue reading →

Assignment 2: Low Hanging Fruit

In Chapter 3 of Poor Economics Banergee and Duflo discuss health issues in regards to the health based poverty trap, focusing mainly on developing countries. While there are many initiatives available that could improve the quality of life and health for the poor, many people do not use them. Mosquito netting, health care, and water … Continue reading →

Assignment 1: A Billion Hungry People?

In the book Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, Abhijit Banerjee and Ester Duflo analyze the poverty trap, defined as the problem that the poor cannot afford to eat enough which makes them less productive and keeps them poor. The authors discuss how many and what kind of calories … Continue reading →

The Importance of College

I was very impressed with the thing this mom has to say about her daughter’s education. I think it is important to remember that there is a lot of learning that happens outside the classroom. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-robinson/quitting-your-job_b_1211880.html ☮

Introductions

Syllabus week: the first week of classes where college kids don’t pay a whole lot of attention due to the fact that class involves reading the syllabus…. at least that is what we hope. In reality, the homework starts day 1 and does not stop until the end of finals week. I am quite optimistic … Continue reading →