Center for Effective Global Action
April 2015 - Impact Note
UPCOMING

The Annual Bank Conference of Africa 
Photo: Cameron Breslin

"Confronting Conflict and Fragility in Africa" is this year's theme for the Annual Bank Conference on Africa (ABCA), to be held in Berkeley this June. Co-sponsored by the World Bank and CEGA, the conference will feature a keynote address by Makhtar Diop, Vice President of the Africa Region at the World Bank. Invited guest speakers include Chris Blattman (Columbia University), James Fenske (University of Oxford), and Daniel Posner (UCLA).
 
NEWS

 

A Big Data Future for Financial Inclusion
Photo: Flickr, Creative Commons


Big data is a big deal these days. Learn how it's changing the future of financial inclusion in this blog post in The Guardian by Temina Madon, Paul Gertler, and Carson Christiano.
 



New Study on Air Conditioning and Global Warming
Photo: Lucas Davis
CEGA affiliates Lucas Davis and Paul Gertler have developed a new energy model which examines the relationship between climate, income growth, and air conditioning adoption. The study, "Contribution of Air Conditioning Adoption to Future Energy Use under Global Warming", points to significant potential global
impacts from air conditioning usage. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the study this week. The research was also highlighted in The Washington Post.
EVIDENCE

Using Cell Phones to Monitor Agricultural Extension Agents in Paraguay
 
Photo: Pedro Patana  

 Government-run farmer educational services are a key component in the fight against poverty in Paraguay. These services help farmers increase crop yields, improve food security, and grow profits. However, ensuring that these services reach farmers can be difficult, in part because of the high costs of monitoring agriculture extension agents (AEAs). CEGA researchers Ernesto Dal Bo and Frederico Finan, along with Laura Schechter (U. Wisconsin), are working with the Paraguayan government to test the impacts using GPS-enabled cell phones to monitor AEA job performance. Read more about this this randomized evaluation on CEGA's website.  

 

CEGA SPOTLIGHT

EASST Fellow Presents at ERE Seminar   
 
Photo: CEGA 
 
East Africa Social Science Translation Collaborative (EASST) fellow Anthony Mveyange presented his research, "Metals and Minerals: China's WTO Accession and Local Economic Effects in Africa" at UC Berkeley's Environmental and Resource Economics Seminar on April 8. Anthony, originally from Tanzania, is a final year doctoral candidate in Economics at the University of Southern Denmark. His research interests include development economics, macroeconomics and economic growth, and inequality and poverty. To learn more about his presentation, click here.

 


OPPORTUNITIES

Join the Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences Team
 
There are two new job openings to work with The Berkeley Initiative for Transparency in the Social Sciences (BITSS), an international network of researchers and institutions committed to improving the standards of rigor, openness, and integrity in scientific research. To apply, click here. 

  

Join the CEGA Financial Inclusion Lab as a Data Scientist

CEGA seeks a full-time data scientist at the graduate or postdoctoral level to support a new research initiative on the impacts of financial inclusion. The scientist will work with a wide range of CEGA affiliates and partners (including Visa and the World Bank). To apply, visit our webpage.