In their new paper on fast internet and employment in Africa, Jonas Hjort and Jonas Poulsen examine the impact of submarine internet cables on employment outcomes in several African countries. They report differences-in-differences estimates, exploiting the gradual arrival of the cables along the coast of Africa. (David noted this work in his Weekly links March …

The World Bank’s Enterprise Survey program is not just about surveying formal firms. In some countries (such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe & Lao DPR), they now also conduct surveys of informal firm. A harder-to-sample group than households or formal firms, the surveys use stratified adaptive cluster sampling methods—a method commonly used in the field of biology. …

Measurement is on my mind. Partly because of the passing of Alan Krueger (credited with having a major influence on the development of empirical research – notably his influential book Myth and Measurement). But also because a couple of weeks ago, I attended an all-day brainstorming meeting on “Methods and Measurement” hosted by Global Poverty …