Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ted Miguel

Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 2h

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org

The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

www.nobelprize.org

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Ted Miguel @tedmiguel.bsky.social · 21h

www.berkeleyside.org/2025/10/07/j...

Nobel Prize in physics goes to UC Berkeley scientist whose work advanced quantum technology

He won for research on the world of sub-atomic quantum tunneling that advances the power of everyday digital communications and computing.

www.berkeleyside.org

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Ted Miguel @tedmiguel.bsky.social · 16d

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solu...

He got an entire country running on clean energy. Can he do it again?

Ramón Méndez Galain helped Uruguay decarbonize its grid in just five years, with 98 percent of its energy coming from renewable sources.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Ted Miguel @tedmiguel.bsky.social · 17d

Nick Kristof lays out how millions are dying from cuts to US foreign aid:

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...

Opinion | Trump’s Most Lethal Policy

www.nytimes.com

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Ted Miguel @tedmiguel.bsky.social · 22d

Orgullo celeste 🇺🇾

worldathletics.org/competitions...

Paternain: three passports, one green card and an unexpected bronze medal | News | Tokyo 25 | World Athletics Championships

When Julia Paternain crossed the finish line of the women’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25, she was not thinking about medals. She was not even sure she had finished the race.

worldathletics.org

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social · 25d

The mortgage fraud claim against Lisa Cook is false, per documents obtained by Reuters.

Bill Pulte's accusation, the sole pretext Trump used to fire her from the Fed, was that she claimed two homes as primary residence.

These docs show she did not.
www.reuters.com/world/us/fed...

Exclusive: Fed Governor Cook declared her Atlanta property as “vacation home,” documents show

A loan estimate for an Atlanta home purchased by Lisa Cook, the Federal Reserve governor accused of mortgage fraud by the Trump administration, shows that Cook had declared the property as a “vacation home,” according to a document reviewed by Reuters.

www.reuters.com

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

The Economic Journal @theeconjournal.bsky.social · Sep 1

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Destructive Behaviour, Judgement, and Economic Decision-making under Thermal Stress’ by Ingvild Almas, Maximilian Auffhammer, Tessa Bold, Ian Bolliger, Aluma Dembo, Solomon M Hsiang, Shuhei Kitamura, Edward Miguel, Robert Pickmans doi.org/10.1093/ej/u...

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

Wojtek Kopczuk @wwwojtekk.bsky.social · Aug 29

I'm comfortably for as much independence of the Fed as possible from politicians of any type.

I also don't think there is anything undemocratic in democratically setting up institutions that are protected from continuous political pressure

JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · Aug 27

A lot of us have been struggling to reconcile our criticisms of Fed independence with the fact that defense of the Fed is, at this moment, critical to the defense of liberal government. Tooze’s latest grasps this nettle more firmly than anything else I’ve seen. adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

Center for Effective Global Action @cega-uc.bsky.social · Aug 28

What is foreign aid and why should Americans care about it?

In a new 101 video from @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social News, CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social explains how foreign aid efforts like cash transfers in Kenya are investments in a healthier world for all.
go.cega.org/101in101

Watch an economics professor explain foreign aid in 101 seconds - Berkeley News

Edward Miguel, faculty co-director of UC Berkeley's Center for Effective Global Action, has made it his life's work to figure out how to improve the lives of some of the poorest people on earth.

go.cega.org

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

CSAE @oxfordcsae.bsky.social · Aug 26

When aid doesn’t arrive on time, many refugees turn to debt to survive, effectively pledging future aid to buy food for today.

CSAE's @oliviersterck.bsky.social & @odid-qeh.bsky.social's Vittorio Bruni on the cost of ration cuts & delivery delays in Kenya's refugee camps.

Olivier Sterck @oliviersterck.bsky.social · Aug 26

Cut to the bone: The cost of ration cuts and delivery delays in Kenya's refugee camps: www.thenewhumanitarian.org/analysis/202... (@newhumanitarian.bsky.social)

Cut to the bone: The cost of ration cuts and delivery delays in Kenya's refugee camps

New research demonstrates the overwhelming impact reducing rations has on local camp economies and people’s survival.

www.thenewhumanitarian.org

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

Matt Kertman @mattkertman.bsky.social · Aug 21

🚨 Evidence alert: RCT from a @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social / @ox.ac.uk team found that unconditional cash xfers led to 48% ⬇️ infant deaths in Kenya. 🧢 off to team behind this study: Michael Walker, @tedmiguel.bsky.social, Dennis Egger, Nick Shankar, and Grady Killeen.

go.cega.org/cashimpacts

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Cash Transfers Dramatically Cut Infant Mortality in Kenya, New Research Finds

Berkeley, CA (18 Aug. 2025) — With the global development community facing financial upheaval, global development goals increasingly out of reach, and the need for aid greater than ever, new...

go.cega.org

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

Michael Eddy @michaeleddy.bsky.social · Aug 18

Link to @apoorvanyt.bsky.social NYT coverage: archive.ph/ct2o0

Link to study: nber.org/papers/w34152

Link to @give-directly.bsky.social summary: givedirectly.org/mortality2025/

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/h...

A New Way to Reduce Children’s Deaths: Cash

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

CSAE @oxfordcsae.bsky.social · Aug 18

The paper 'Can Cash Transfers Save Lives? Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment in Kenya' is published in @nber.org er.org

✒️Michael Walker, ‪@nshankar.bsky.social, @tedmiguel.bsky.social, @eggerdennis.bsky.social & Grady Killeen
‪
Read here👇 www.nber.org/papers/w34152

Can Cash Transfers Save Lives? Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment in Kenya

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

www.nber.org

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Ted Miguel @tedmiguel.bsky.social · Aug 18

And nice NPR coverage today of our research in Kenya!

www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Researchers discover a secret weapon that saves babies' lives. And it's not medical

To save the lives of infants and small kids in lower resource countries, there are a handful of tools: anti-malarial drugs, bed nets and vaccines. A massive experiment in rural Kenya suggests another.

www.npr.org

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Ted Miguel @tedmiguel.bsky.social · Aug 18

Great NYT write up of our new results on child mortality and cash transfers in Kenya:
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/h...

A New Way to Reduce Children’s Deaths: Cash

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

Michael Eddy @michaeleddy.bsky.social · Aug 18

Was stunned when I saw these results...👇

In rural Kenya a $1k transfer cut infant & child mortality in ~ *half* with largest drops around delivery & near physician-staffed facilities 😲

Kudos to @tedmiguel.bsky.social @nshankar.bsky.social @eggerdennis.bsky.social & others involved in the study!🧵

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Ted Miguel @tedmiguel.bsky.social · Aug 17

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

At Alabama plantation, families of enslavers and enslaved strike a deal

The descendants of enslavers and enslaved have come together where their ancestors once lived, working to address the plantation’s legacy and promote healing.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

BIG Lab @biglabnd.bsky.social · Aug 13

The Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Forum is September 25-26 at Notre Dame. We'll have talks by @danilaserra-eco.bsky.social @deankarlan.bsky.social @tedmiguel.bsky.social @novosad.bsky.social and @taryndinkelman.bsky.social. #econsky
Register now! 👇

biglab.nd.edu/news-events/...

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

Center for Effective Global Action @cega-uc.bsky.social · Aug 8

💵 Can cash transfers save lives?

At the 2025 @nber.org Summer Institute, CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social shared surprising new findings from Kenya showing that cash transfers have the potential to reduce child mortality.

🔗 Learn more here: go.cega.org/NBERsi25

SI 2025 Development Economics

In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on…

go.cega.org

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Reposted by Ted Miguel

Shannon Osaka @shannonosaka.bsky.social · Aug 6

A study predicted economic damages from climate change 3x higher than previous assessments. But it was flawed -- all thanks to the data from just one country.

I dug into this strange study and the researchers calling it out:

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...