Monthly Archives: May 2009

Most understated opening line in development?

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From BBC News:

Developing economies could better ride the current financial crisis with more effective maintenance of their natural resources, according to a new report.

The report, from Natural Resource Charter, is here. I haven’t read it, although I am sure it would be interesting. The article references Paul Collier, who pushes a fairly simple system for straight auctions of commodities. It’s worth noting that to some extent, this already happens with commodity extraction rights - so maybe it’s a call to do that better. (The journalists could do better with the headline too: ‘Africa urged to auction commodities’?) However, if they are pushing for African countries to auction raw diamonds, coal and whatever, then they’re recommending a highly statist approach in which governments own the extraction plant and companies. That would be a step backwards. More clever public contract managers (with performance bonuses) in government would be a better solution.

Signalling and selfishness

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In signaling models, selfish agents might voluntarily supply public goods.

The answer to this question seems obvious to me. I don’t have a PhD. Does that imply that I am clever or dumb? Is this really a PhD level question? Couldn’t children answer it? What am I missing? To what extent does my belief that all human beings are to some extent selfish make this question easier to answer? These are things I think about too much.

Call now to win

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On Marginal Revolution, Bob Baxley asks a question I can answer: why do so many competitions have trivial questions attached? Do they only want clever winners?

In the UK, it’s because a game that you enter at a cost (i.e. premium rate phone call) is defined as an unregulated lottery if the result relies solely on luck. Introduce suitable skill and you’re now running a prize competition, with much less regulation. The problem, especially for participation television quizzes, is defining what is a suitable level of skill. Does knowing that 4 results from adding 2+2 count?

This was addressed by UK regulator Ofcom’s consultation into participation television in 2006-2007. Interestingly, Sky responded to this consultation with a claim that “call TV quiz programmes amount to illegal lotteries.”

According to this article, the 2008 Gambling Act made the situation worse, and the regulations more complex:

The result is that if TV quiz shows want to continue broadcasting then they must comply with these new laws by making their competitions more complicated and ensuring that a number of entrants are ‘knocked out’ in the first round. Participants must also be kept to date, and detailed information must be stored on resilient databases for cross reference purposes. Also, where appropriate, they could either obtain a lottery license from the Gambling Commission, which would require the broadcaster to donate 20% of all profits made to charity, or qualify as a ‘free draw quiz’.

I imagine something similar applies in the States.

Banana briquettes

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Making cooking briquettes from banana waste is a promising idea for development. I guess it works for plantain crops too. However, I don’t see why the focus should just be on Africa. Banana-fuel could be useful across Southern and South-Eastern Asia, Latin American and some Pacific islands too. There could even be a business in this. Labour and sawdust would be easy to come by, as would sunlight for drying the briquettes. The problem, I imagine, would be collecting the banana waste. Unlike sawdust, banana skins aren’t found in one place, but scattered throughout a million waste bins. The options for collecting this input look poor:

  1. Hiring scavengers may be one, basic, reclaimation option, but I think the cost may rule that out.
  2. You could offer an incentive for customers to return their banana skins, and pay by weight. In many ways, this is like outsourcing the scavenger option, and doesn’t remove the inefficiency.
  3. Grow your own bananas. Then you need some way to make money from the fruit. Drying and chipping may be the best option, or grinding into banana flour.

Option 3 makes me think that banana-chipping outfits probably already exist in some places. So perhaps there is a stock of banana skin waste…. a quick online search turns up Narosa Farms.

Create your own economy

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Tyler Cowen, of Marginal Revolution, is trailing his new book, Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World, on the infographic blog Wehr in the World. From what I can gather, it seems that the focus of this book will be on organising your mind like an internal economy. This begins to sounds like David Allen’s Getting Things Done (‘GTD’) system. However, one of the obvious benefits of the Tyler Cowen approach is that Tyler’s almost super-human information gathering and processing speed is obvious from his blogging. So there has to be something in it. I’m looking forward to this book.

Objects on the horizon

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Windfarm

A few weeks ago, on a trip along the Frinton seafront in Essex, I noticed some strange structures out to in the North Sea. They were barely visible on the horizon, but looked across between towers and ships. It turns out that they were ships erecting towers - for a windfarm. For what it’s worth, I think they added interest and focus to the horizon, which, let’s face it, is otherwise just a line obscured by mist.

An anti-phishing phish

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In the inbox this morning:

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

Important:

You’re getting this letter in connection with new directions issued by U.S. Treasury Department. The directions concern U.S. Federal Wire online payments.

A country-wide phishing attack began on May 6, 2009. It’s taking place hitherto. Therefore a great number of banks and credit unions is affected by this attack and quantity of illegal wire transfers has reached an extremely high level.

U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in common worked out a complex of immediate actions for the highest possible reduction of fraudulent operations. We regret to inform you that definite restrictions will be applied to all Federal Wire transfers from May 12 till May 25.

Here you can get more detailed information regarding the affected banks and U.S. Treasury Department restrictions:

http://[snipped].com/35945/FRB/phishing/Issue~73126/

Federal Reserve Bank System Administration

Do they think that using words like ‘hitherto’ makes them more credible?

My globetrotting photos

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I love getting notes like this one. They come in quite regularly. I have had my photos reprinted in all sorts of (mainly non-UK) magazines. This wouldn’t have happened if I charged for them, I’ll bet. Still, I hope one day to notice a photo I took long ago in a magazine, book or on a poster when in some distant land.

Dear Ross,

Hi, I’m Cheryl Sim, editor for Holiday Fun! magazine which is
published four times a year in Singapore by Point Media Pte Ltd to coincide with
every school term holiday.

Holiday Fun! provides parents with kids aged between 4-12 with useful info on activities to do/places to go during the school holidays.

I’m currently working on the June-August issue and will be using your images on Malacca for the next issue’s article on travelling to Malaysia for a holiday. Your photos are impressive, and I will credit you accordingly. Thank you!

Best regards,
Cheryl Sim
Editor
Holiday Fun! / Holiday Fun! Kids
Point Media Pte Ltd
Singapore

The photos of which she speaks are here. Incidentally, Helen and I loved Malaysia, although KL more than Malacca. I’m quite keen on Singapore too, although I’d prefer to live north of the border.

Intelligent Life

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The Economist‘s persistent marketing of their lifestyle magazine, Intelligent Life, may be working on me. Occasionally, they send free copies to Economist subscribers. The Spring 2009 issue is excellent, as is the magazine’s website. Favourite bits so far:

  • Veggie recipes for meaties - I like the look of the bread soup.
  • The return of the ‘power breakfast’, with a good breakfast restaurant recommendation for Chicago.
  • A photo essay about India’s bonded labourer Dalits, which was very moving, but which I can’t find online. I may post more on Dalits. Their suffering seems so utterly incomprehensible and shameful.
  • This piece on drinking alcohol comes pretty close to my position and experience.

Counterbalanced against this, there were some poor articles too. The ‘cover story’ – on the (over)use of the word ‘iconic’ was utterly mundane.

Study street

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20090415_dalit_study_street_23

I first read about the plight of India’s Dalits (‘untouchables’) in an Intelligent Life photo essay. If, like me, you think racism makes no sense at all, then the persecution of Dalits – who are physically and genetically indistinguishable from the higher castes – is even more absurd. Social and economic exclusion leads Dalits to take filthy, menial jobs: in rubbish collection, sewerage collection, dealing with carcasses and leather tanning. These dirty jobs lead to more prejudice. In Mumbai, Dalits go to ‘study street’ after a hard day’s work. The streetlight there allows them the illumination they need to do the reading to get the qualifications – essential to overcome the self-perpetuating prejudice associated with their caste. I feel sad about their mistreatment but glad of their tenacity. But it does make me think: if a streetlight can achieve so much, what could be achieved with a library?