1. Private equity firms spent much of the last decade throwing around large sums of money buying out companies and selling them out for profit after a series of adjustments. The high profile nature of these buyouts and the sheer amount of capital being thrown around begs the following question: what is/was it all for? In a recent working paper, Philip Leslie and Paul Oyer ask whether private equity firms "create value." Their results depressingly suggest than the answer is "no."
2. Steven Levitt has a great post on the intersection between orange juice, environmentalism, and behavioral economics.
3. Will the financial downturn mean less US money for global health? Karen Grepin reports that these outlays are safe for now.
4. Bouts of occasional stupidity are apparently very good for your development as a researcher (summary of the article here). I have yet to see any returns from this. (HT: Melanie Elliot)
4 comments:
More fascinating in some ways than the post from Levitt are the amazingly weird and (frankly) foolish comments.
I hope to not fulfill a similar role here.
Where did you come across Grepin's blog anyhow? She's got some excellent thoughts.
Also, random plug, quite enjoyed "Gang Leader for a Day"-an afternoon jaunt with a sociologist in the projects of Chicago. Quick read.
James,
I met Karen a few weeks back here in New Haven. She is doing some really interesting work on global health aid and, as you point out, has a fantastic blog.
"Gang Leader for a Day" is fantastic...read it earlier this year. Have you read "Outliers"?
While the overall aggregate outlays from the special programs like PEPFAR might be safe, there will be plenty of other funding streams that will be reduced (corporate giving, foundation grants, university funding, etc.). Additionally, research on previous recessions has shown a reduction in aid funding by donor governments, but this is usually ever announced. Empirically we won't know the aggregate impact for years. Laurie Garrett has written a fantastic piece this month on the opportunity this crisis presents global health - a chance to shift priorities to more a holistic system based approach.
Good points all. Thanks for the 411 on Garrett's article. It is indeed excellent. Readers, here is a link to the piece, on the Technology, Health and Development Blog (THD - a great and informative read now linked in the sidebar):
http://thdblog.wordpress.com/2009/03/16/the-end-of-the-era-of-generosity-global-health-amid-economic-crisis/
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