Quitting Is Not An Option.... For Now

In order not to fall behind on the current blog trend, I will be blog-free until mid-January or so. This is just the beginning, folks. There will be more to come once I return from my well-deserved, post-finals, three-week trip reward.

May 2010 be different.... how different and different how - all up to us.

White Man's Burden

When recycling your waste carefully separated into paper or plastic, wearing your sibling's had-me-downs or simply donating clothes to Salvation Army aren't enough.... What is the grand gesture you're looking for to satisfy the "warm glow" appetite?

Perhaps my paper on crowding out moral and social incentives to do good for the sake of doing good wasn't convincing enough. The reviews were great, but the whole time while composing it, I felt like I was cheating... One of those unwavering feelings that you don't believe your own writing, but you keep at it just because the point is clear and you'll get a good grade on it. 

"In our theory, the variable that does cause a significant hypothetical effect [...] is guilt," is what I wrote. How does one cope with guilt?  Despite what Obama and Bernanke (Times' Person of the Year! Didn't you hear?) advocate, consumption may be beneficial to some in the immediate, short run, but it is harmful to most in the long run. Over-consumption, overspending, overachieving: all words with a heavy negative connotation. Yet, this is what everyone - i.e. from your next-door neighbor to the government, the nation, the world - expects you to do. 

There should be a "How-to-Sleep-at-Night-while-Children-in-the-Third-World-are-Starving for Dummies" survival guide. I'm sorry to disappoint but I don't have the answer. I deeply admire people who passionately believe they do in one form or the other, and they follow their beliefs, realizing their potential to the fullest. Change from within, however, takes guts. No, it takes more than that. It asks for complete and utter dedication to the brink of insane conviction of the means justifying the ends, of good triumphing over evil... My disillusioned childhood drenched with teenage skepticism might have ruined me for the job, but how I often dream of being born an idealist. How much more faith I would have had in human intrinsic ability and potential to do good, to be good (however you may wish to define it). 

Many success stories to be told and many more failed attempts, lessons learned and unlearned for the sake of remaining optimistic. In the end, it's about being content where you are, doing what you do. Success is illusory and only measured by nobody else's standards but your own.

Old News, Good News?

Yes, yes, I know that it's old but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share this video:

Greenspan/Bernanke parody

...which in turn reminds me that I recently read a wiki blurb on Greenspan and it curiously mentioned how his PhD dissertation has been removed from NYU's library upon his request. Even more interestingly, the work is rumored to have covered the anticipation of a housing bubble crisis. Hmmm... I'm sure the conspiracy theorists among you have already gotten a hint, but just in case, here's a preview of the above-cited paper.

And in the End, There Was a Beginning

I promised myself that if I pass my graduate level International Trade course, I'd start a Development Economics blog, and this time, I'd be serious about it. None of those previous short-lived attempts. So here I am, blogging away, thanks to the kind professor who bequeathed his grace on me and not only passed me by some miracle, but rekindled my passion for the subject.

A few words about this project might come in handy for those of you lucky readers, stumbling upon my creation. Above all, the title sums up the project's nature. The approaches to Development Economics are unlimited as the heated debates through history have shown us. The term itself is used, misused and abused in numerous fashions. Yet, the search for societal welfare in developing countries is still on.

Furthermore, the amateur tint comes from the fact that I, the author, am no expert, nothing else but a n00b in the economic (blogo)sphere. My background is limited to the several "EC" courses I have taken thus far from the Boston University Economics Department. Somehow, I tiptoed my way into fulfilling the requirements and my expected graduation with a B.A. in Economics as one of my majors is just around the corner in May of 2010. I claim no superior knowledge or understanding, nor do I dream to ever achieve it. I merely hope to pose curious, crucial questions pertaining to the topics of aid and assistance, optimal choices of policies, evaluation of data statistics and many others in order to spark your interest, dear reader, and to open them for discussion.

Do check up on my progress and don't forget to let me know that you do it!