This week’s In Development Magazine story is by Wilson King, on the mystery of short Indian children.
The Trump administration is considering adding a $100,000 fee to OPT. OPT is the program that allows non-citizen graduates of US universities to stay and work in the US for one year after graduation.1 This would be catastrophic for both US universities and US competitiveness. No one is going to pay $100,000 to employ a new grad,2 so this makes it much harder for international students to stay in the US after their degree. I’ve written before on how much of US innovation has come from immigrants; this fee would be an excellent way to harm the US economy.
Relatedly, we have a new paper this week showing that H-1B exposure raised native wages.
LMICs spend roughly twice as much on energy subsidies as they do on social protection.
A new paper argues ~50% of lead exposure globally comes through diet.
Johan Fourie argues that AI philanthropists should endow institutes at universities in the Global South.
More evidence that the UK is London with some irrelevant things attached:3 the borough of Bromley4 collects more income tax than the city of Birmingham.5
It is taking longer and longer to become wealthy. That is, we are transitioning from an income society to a wealth society - where high income may not be enough to make you wealthy.
Larissa Schiavo says you should meet your mutuals. I endorse this message, largely because Larissa is one of my mutuals who I met through the internet, and now she is one of my best friends.
The M1 motorway has higher net favorability in the UK than AI does.
Up to three years for STEM graduates.
OK, maybe Anthropic and Jane Street will, but most places will not.
I await the hate mail for this statement.
Population 335,000.
Population 1.1 million.