Interesting Links

Rather than try to be and clever and tie them seamlessly into my posts, I've decided to put up fun links as I see them. Enjoy!

1) A great set of essays on the political, economic and social future of India, commemorating India's 60th birthday. The painting by M.F. Hussein is pretty fun and has replaced Daniel Craig's James Bond as my desktop background.

2) A recent Quarterly Journal of Economics article about how cell phones have made Keralite farmers and fish markets more efficient. The author, Robert Jensen, was mentioned in a previous post in this space, in the context of his article on the effects of cable TV on rural Indian households. Doesn't the following abstract make you want to abandon whatever you are doing and read this right now?

When information is limited or costly, agents are unable to engage in optimal arbitrage. Excess price dispersion across markets can arise, and goods may not be allocated efficiently. In this setting, information technologies may improve market performance and increase welfare. Between 1997 and 2001, mobile phone service was introduced throughout Kerala, a state in India with a large fishing industry. Using microlevel survey data, we show that the adoption of mobile phones by fishermen and wholesalers was associated with a dramatic reduction in price dispersion, the complete elimination of waste, and near-perfect adherence to the Law of One Price. Both consumer and producer welfare increased.

3) James Heckman's research agenda. I made a brief comment about this on my post on height. I find this agenda really inspiring: there are tons of interesting, open questions and great scope for some interdisciplinary work. Neuroscientists, economists, sociologists, policymakers and anyone interested in the origins and remediation of inequality should read this.

4) Is it possible to recover the extra cost of hybrid vehicles through savings generated by using less gas? Santosh Anagol suggests the answer is yes.