By Arvind Magesan | – Applied economists spend a large fraction of their time trying to squeeze meaningful answers — causal effects — out of observational data. Unlike the natural sciences, we can’t run experiments in order to answer the big questions in our field. If we want to know, for example, how raising the […]
Yemen: Will talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran offer hopes for an end to bitter seven-year civil war?
By Simon Mabon | – Recent statements from Iran and Saudi Arabia have provided hope that a pathway might be emerging to an end to the bitter seven-year civil war in Yemen which has killed an estimated quarter of a million people and left millions more homeless. On September 21, officials from Saudi Arabia and […]
Solar panels on half the world’s roofs could meet its entire electricity demand – new research
By Siddharth Joshi, James Glynn and Shivika Mittal | – Rooftop solar panels are up to 79% cheaper than they were in 2010. These plummeting costs have made rooftop solar photovoltaics even more attractive to households and businesses who want to reduce their reliance on electricity grids while reducing their carbon footprints. But are there […]
Could Lebanon, Looted and mismanaged by its Plutocrats, become a Failed State?
By Tony Walker | – In the midst of a pandemic that has wrenched the world off its axis, Lebanon’s precipitous decline has not received the attention it deserves given the country’s strategic importance. Bordering Syria to its north and east, and Israel to its south, Lebanon occupies a critical space in the Eastern Mediterranean. […]
Afghan women have a long history of taking leadership and fighting for their rights
By Wazhmah Osman and Helena Zeweri | – Ever since the Taliban recaptured Afghanistan, the question in much of the Western media has been, “What will happen to the women of Afghanistan?” Indeed, this is an important concern that merits international attention. The Taliban has already imposed many restrictions on women. At the same time, […]
Why ‘Indigenous Peoples’ Day is Replacing ‘Columbus Day’
By Susan C. Faircloth | – Columbus Day celebrations in the United States – meant to honor the legacy of the man credited with “discovering” the New World – are almost as old as the nation itself. The earliest known Columbus Day celebration took place on Oct. 12, 1792, on the 300th anniversary of his […]
Who are Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi, Climate Emergency Modelers who won Physics Nobel Prize?
By David Randall | – As a climate scientist myself, I was excited to learn that Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi have been awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physics. I first met Manabe when I was a graduate student in the early 1970s, so I was particularly pleased that the prize recognizes […]
China: removing features from country’s biggest mosques the latest move in campaign of Muslim assimilation
By David R. Stroup | In the normally quiet city of Xining, capital of northwest China’s Qinghai province, everyday interactions between the city’s ethnic groups – Han Chinese, Hui Muslim, Tibetans, Turkic Salars and others – usually pass without conflict or fanfare. But thanks to the municipal government’s controversial demolition of the entrance hall of […]
Abdulrazak Gurnah: what you need to know about the Nobel Prize winner for Literature
By Melanie Otto | – Abdulrazak Gurnah has been awarded the 2021 Nobel prize for literature. The Tanzanian novelist, who is based in the UK, was awarded the prize for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”. Migration and […]
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