Views of a Nepali Economist

Govt to take action against manpower companies charging money for free visas

The world of freelancers 

A tale of two deaths 

The tributes paid to Havel were truly moving and meant sincerely. US President Obama said Havel had “helped to unleash tides of history that led to a democratic Europe”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel described Havel as a “great European whose fight for freedom and democracy was as unforgettable as his great humanity”. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said, "France has lost a friend, and Europe has lost one of its wisest men." British Prime Minister David Cameron said, “Europe owes Vaclav Havel a profound debt. Havel led the Czech people out of tyranny and helped bring freedom and democracy to our entire continent.”

.....I am sure an internationalist leader like BP Koirala would certainly have issued a statement eulogizing Havel. But on the day of Havel’s death, the current crop of pathetic NC leaders were too busy preparing for a nation-wide “peaceful” strike inconvenienced millions of innocent citizens from exercising their right to peaceful livelihood. 

.....Here in Nepal, our Deputy Prime Minister officially conveyed the “heart-felt condolences of the Government and people of Nepal to the grief-stricken people of DPRK on the irreparable loss of their leader and Nepal’s ‘great friend’ Comrade Kim Jong-Il. Apparently the Nepali Government was shocked and saddened to learn about the sudden demise of the General Secretary of the Workers´ Party of Korea, Chairman of the National Defence Commission of DPRK and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People´s Army.

......But to the best of my knowledge, there was no official statement from the government expressing any sentiments or even acknowledging the passing away of Vaclav Havel. The reluctance of Nepal’s Communist leaders to express any grief at the death of an anti-Communist icon is somewhat understandable, but even the Nepali Congress that prides itself as champion of democracy and human rights found it unnecessary to express any condolence.

Gorbachev and the Struggle for Democracy

Gorbachev's personal fate was to become democratic leader of the world's least democratic institution, the Soviet Communist Party. He was elevated to power by the Party leadership in 1985 to breath new dynamism into the rapidly collapsing Soviet economy. Yet the rigidities and lies of the Soviet economic and political system proved to be largely impervious to change, culminating in the complete collapse of the Soviet state and economy in 1991. 

MUSTANG CAVE: Study leads to peculiar discovery

Experts digging into the mysteries of the famous Mhebrak cave in Lower Mustang have unearthed new clues, which could potentially unravel a significant portion of human history dating back to 450 BC.

Petroleum shortage resurfaces as NOC fails to clear dues to IOC

According to Suresh Kumar Agrawal, officiating managing director of NOC, as corporation has dues to pay to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the import has been slashed. The cash-strapped oil monopoly has a credit of worth Rs.160 billion to IOC...Agrawal also said that NOC is not in a position to supply fuel to fully meet the demands until the clearance of dues to IOC.

NOC loss is increasing to Rs. 1.26 billion in December as it is supplying the petroleum products below the cost of its purchase. However, the government had also imposed double price system in fuels to ease import and to reduce its mounting losses of NOC, later it decided to roll back its decision following the protest from the entrepreneurs and consumers, and decided to fix the rate of petroleum at same rates to all. 

Govt decides to provide 1.5 billion to cash-strapped NOC to ease petro supply 

The government on Tuesday decided to provide loan assistance of Rs 1.5 billion to Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) to ease supply of petroleum products....A Cabinet meeting held at Singha Durbar this morning took the decision to this effect as per the December 23 agreement between Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai, Finance Minister Barsha Man Pun, Commerce and Supplies Minister Lekh Raj Bhatta and NOC officials to support the cash strapped state-owned oil monopoly instead of readjustment in the price of fuels for the time being.

Demand for kerosene doubles 

Demand for kerosene has almost doubled after the government imposed a dual pricing system on diesel and kerosene. According to Nepal Oil Corporation’s (NOC) Amlekhgunj depot, daily demand for kerosene has soared to 50-55 kl from 30-32 kl since the government enforced dual prices on Dec 10. 

Under the dual pricing system, NOC hiked diesel and kerosene prices to Rs 94.23 and Rs 84 per litre respectively for factories, hotels, diplomatic missions, hospitals, development projects and other large consumers who buy 3,000 litres at a time. Prices for ordinary consumers remained unchanged at Rs 76 per litre. 

India cuts 70 pc fuel supply to Nepal 

India has slashed the fuel supply to Nepal by 50 percent owing to the Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC)’s failure to clear the outstanding dues, triggering a crisis of petroleum products across the country...NOC owes Rs 1.6 billion in outstanding dues to Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the sole supplier of petroleum products to Nepal. General l public are reeling from the crisis.

FNCCI to speak on energy crisis soon 

 Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) — the umbrella organisation of Neapl — has said that it is developing the common opinion of private sector regarding current energy crisis. ...FNCCI will publicise its official opinion and way ahead of current fuel crisis within two weeks, it said, adding that the federation will consult with experts, governments officials, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and other stakeholders before developing its opinion and plans.

Labels: crisis, petroleum

Paul Krugman on Economic Barbarism

Services offshoring increases wage inequality

The effects of offshoring on wages remain a hotly debated issue. This column explores the case of UK firms between 1992 and 2004, recognising that offshoring in one particular industry may also affect labour demand in other industries. It suggests that services and materials offshoring increase the wages of high-skilled workers and decreases the wages of low- and medium-skilled workers, thus contributing to a rising wage inequality.

Why Not Just Give Poor People Cash?

What happened to the WTO's original Food Security agenda?
 The graph below shows the trade balance of least developed countries shifting after 1980.

Africa's population: Miracle or Malthus?

When fertility started to fall in Asia after 1960 and Latin America after 1970, it did so quickly, ineluctably and universally. The number of children a woman could expect in her lifetime fell from six to two in a generation. The fertility fall was continuous. And contraceptive use spread rapidly. Family planners were amazed to discover that only a year or two after contraceptives had appeared in cities, illiterate women were using them in remote villages. The pattern of swift, uninterrupted decline is now taken as the norm: the UN uses it to project a worldwide convergence towards the replacement rate of fertility (2.1, the rate at which a population stabilises in the long term).......But convergence is not happening in Africa. In a few countries, including Niger and Uganda, the fall in fertility has barely begun. Where it has started, the decline is usually slower than it was in Asia. East Asian fertility fell by more than half in the 20 years to 1985. In Cameroon fertility has fallen only one point (from 5.7 to 4.7) in the past 20 years. And in eight African countries, including Ghana and Kenya, the decline has stalled—that is, after falling for a while, the rate got stuck at about five. Fertility stalls are not unknown elsewhere: Argentina’s fertility remained at three for decades; South Korea and Costa Rica also experienced hiccups. But no continent has experienced so many stalls, or so early in the process of decline, as Africa.

Here's the news report. Here is another news report about the Nepal data. Here are some highlights:

• 40 percent had paid backhanders over the last 12 months to public servants, with police being the largest recipients
• 62 percent of south Asians believed corruption had got worse over the past three years, with Indians and Pakistanis the most pessimistic.
• More than 80 percent, however, said they were willing to take action to end corruption.
• the country most plagued by bribery is Bangladesh, where 66 percent report paying bribes to public institutions, mostly just to gain access to services to which they are already entitled.
• In India, where the figure was 54 percent, a majority thought their government wasn't doing enough to fight corruption that permeates all levels of society -- requiring bribes for anything from getting a birth certificate to tenders for infrastructure projects
• In Nepal, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, bribes were mostly paid to speed up unwieldy bureaucracy, highlighting how corruption can be a barrier to business expansion
• In Sri Lanka, significantly more people paid bribes to tax authorities than other services 
• in Nepal and the Maldives, customs officers reportedly received the most bribes.
• Over 53.7 percent of respondents surveyed in Nepal perceived the political parties as the most corrupt institutions, followed by the legislature and the police as the second and the third corrupt institutions respectively. 
• highest amounts of bribe (exceeding Rs 3,500 per year) was paid by 2.2 percent of Nepali households
• 18.8 percent households paid approximately Rs 2,485 to Rs 35,429.
• 32.2 percent had to pay approximately less than Rs 2,000 in a year

Labels: corruption, south asia, TI, transparency international

Here's a feel-good news item for today:

Thousands of Iranian Jews and their descendants owe their lives to a Muslim diplomat in wartime Paris, according to a new book. In The Lion's Shadow tells how Abdol-Hossein Sardari risked everything to help fellow Iranians escape the Nazis.

Here's the BBC News link. 

Labels: holocaust, Iran

• Technical progress can be awkward--Dilbert.

• Olivier Blanchard reviews the macroeconomy of 2011. 

• There will be rich always: Finding a new way to think about income inequality. 

•  Did you know about the "iTunes Index"? If not, read here.  

• Here's a short piece on the iTunes Index, and the chart below explains Apple's pricing strategies according to different locations--here showing a comparison of US and Finland.

Labels: inequality, iTunes Index, Olivier Blanchard

The Economist had this nice piece a few weeks ago titled "The sun shines bright" about the growing African Economic success.

From Ghana in the west to Mozambique in the south, Africa’s economies are consistently growing faster than those of almost any other region of the world. At least a dozen have expanded by more than 6% a year for six or more years. Ethiopia will grow by 7.5% this year, without a drop of oil to export. Once a byword for famine, it is now the world’s tenth-largest producer of livestock. Nor is its wealth monopolised by a well-connected clique. Embezzlement is still common but income distribution has improved in the past decade.

...According to Standard Bank, which operates throughout Africa, 60m African households have annual incomes greater than $3,000 at market exchange rates. By 2015, that number is expected to reach 100m—almost the same as in India now. These households belong to what might be called the consumer class. In total, 300m Africans earn more than $700 a year.

...Labour productivity has been rising. It is now growing by, on average, 2.7% a year. Trade between Africa and the rest of the world has increased by 200% since 2000. Inflation dropped from 22% in the 1990s to 8% in the past decade. Foreign debts declined by a quarter, budget deficits by two-thirds. In eight of the past ten years, according to the World Bank, sub-Saharan growth has been faster than East Asia’s (though that does include Japan).

...In financial centres such as London barely a week goes by without an Africa investor conference. Private-equity firms that a decade ago barely knew sub-Saharan Africa existed raised $1.5 billion for projects on the continent last year. In 2010 total foreign direct investment was more than $55 billion—five times what it was a decade earlier, and much more than Africa receives in aid (see chart 2).

 The article is long and goes into other details as well.

Labels: africa, economy, FDI

An article from October shows that the international community's apathy towards the North Korean hunger situation risks hurting the lives of millions.

In a pediatric hospital in North Korea's most productive farming province, children lay two to a bed. All showed signs of severe malnutrition: skin infections, patchy hair, listless apathy.

...The country's dysfunctional food-distribution system, rising global commodities prices and sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs had contributed to what appears to be a hunger crisis in the North, even before devastating summer floods and typhoons compounded the emergency....The regime's appeals for massive food aid have gone mostly unanswered by a skeptical international community. Only 30 percent of a United Nations food aid target for North Korea has been met so far. The United States and South Korea, the two biggest donors before sanctions, have said they won't resume aid until they are satisfied the military-led communist regime won't divert the aid for its own uses and progress is made on disarmament talks.

...Visiting scholars, tourists and charity workers have sent out conflicting views about it....The U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), for instance, said last month after visiting the North that "the damage was not so significant." Another U.N. body, the World Food Programme, which has a regular presence in the North, warned in March of growing hunger.

...In one orphanage in Haeju, 28 children huddled together on the floor of a small clinic...Measurements taken of each child's mid-upper arm with color-coded plastic bracelets -- a standard test for malnutrition -- showed 12 were in the orange or red danger zones, meaning some could die without proper treatment...."I've never seen stunting like this before, not ever -- not even in Ethiopia," said Delphine Chedorge, deputy program manager of emergencies for MSF France.

...North Koreans on average live 11 years less than South Koreans due mainly to malnutrition, according to U.N. health indicators.

The international community's apathy towards the North Korean state is understandable. But, the children need to be saved.

Mechi-mahakali electric railway: Govt invites EoI for DPR of two sections

The Department of Railways has invited expression of interest (EoI) for the detailed project report (DPR) of two sections of the Mechi-Mahakali Electric Railway—Simara-Tamsaria (114 km) and Tamsaria-Butwal-Madhawaliya-Bhairahawa (109 km).

Indian cabinet clears costly food subsidy bill As an economist, I don't like direct food subsidy. Direct cash subsidy is a better and cheaper alternative to handing out food. I have absolutely no idea why an economist (Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh) would support this initiative.

The food security bill carries enormous political significance for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's coalition government, which was re-elected in 2009 on the back of a strong pro-poor platform.

Nepal and Others Mull Monsanto’s Role in Advancing Agriculture

Inland Revenue Department slaps Rs. 3.88 billion in taxes, fine to 435 VAT bill evaders

Upwardly mobile Will China Break?

The most striking thing about the Chinese economy over the past decade was the way household consumption, although rising, lagged behind overall growth. At this point consumer spending is only about 35 percent of G.D.P., about half the level in the United States.

Don’t Tax the Rich. Tax Inequality Itself.

...In 1980, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans made 9.1 percent of our nation’s pre-tax income; by 2006 that share had risen to 18.8 percent ...In 1980 the average 1-percenter made 12.5 times the median income, but in 2006 (the latest year for which data is available) the average income of our richest 1 percent was a whopping 36 times greater than that of the median household....

The Exchange-Rate Delusion

...the real (inflation-adjusted) value of the renminbi is now rising quickly, owing to inflation differentials and Chinese wage growth, particularly in the country’s export sectors. That will shift the Chinese economy’s structure and trade patterns quite dramatically over time. The final-assembly links of global-value added chains will leave China for countries at earlier stages of economic development, such as Bangladesh, where incomes are lower (though without producing much change in the balance with the US)....

...The focus on currencies as a cause of the West’s economic woes, while not entirely misplaced, has been excessive. Developing countries have learned over time that real income growth and employment expansion are driven by productivity gains, not exchange-rate movements. This, in turn, requires public and private investment in tangible assets, physical and telecommunications infrastructure, human capital and skills, and the knowledge and technology base of the economy.

What Can Save the Euro?

It is increasingly evident that Europe’s political leaders, for all their commitment to the euro’s survival, do not have a good grasp of what is required to make the single currency work. The prevailing view when the euro was established was that all that was required was fiscal discipline – no country’s fiscal deficit or public debt, relative to GDP, should be too large. But Ireland and Spain had budget surpluses and low debt before the crisis, which quickly turned into large deficits and high debt. So now European leaders say that it is the current-account deficits of the eurozone’s member countries that must be kept in check.

 The following article was published in today's Republica. Direct link is here. I had published this as a blog post a few days ago here.


The International Financial Institutions Advisory Commission’s 2003 report suggested that the International Monetary Fund’s system of short-term crisis management was “too costly… responses too slow… advice often incorrect… and efforts to influence policy and practice too intrusive”. That was one of the first reports to come out about international aid organizations like the IMF and the World Bank’s effectiveness, or lack thereof, in helping poor nations. That and several other reports in the past few years have asked some pertinent questions: Is the IMF doing any good? Is it being faithful to its core customers or to its core donors? Is it perpetuating the Western dominance in the Eastern and African countries?

For those who are unaware, the IMF is like a bank that gives money to countries that need them. Like normal people, countries also go into debt that they, sometimes, cannot pay. During such times, like normal people, the countries are not able to get credit from lenders due to their previous default. During those times, the IMF acts as a lender of last resort, albeit with some conditions. The applied condition, about 99 percent of the time, is an immediate restructuring of the borrower country’s economy through IMF’s macroeconomic stabilization policies.

The IMF carries out its macroeconomic stabilization policies in four basic steps. First, the borrowing country must abolish or liberalize the foreign exchange and import controls. Second, the official exchange rate of the borrower is devalued. Third, the borrower must open up its economy and accept FDI inflows. And, fourth, the borrower must accept IMF’s strong anti-inflation program.

These steps look innocuous. So, why do countries, more often than not, oppose IMF’s policies and programs? Well, the main reason is because IMF acts and imposes these programs like a schoolyard bully. Time and again it has been heavy-handed in dealing with poor countries that have little say in the international arena. Yet, at the same time, it cannot speak a word against the heavy donors that “fund” the Fund.

For instance, when the global financial crisis began in 2008, the G20 summit in London in the first week of April 2009 came up with a plan to give US $750 billion to the IMF in order to rescue the countries hit the hardest by the crisis. However, by the end of April, only Japan had given its share of $100 billion to the IMF. The promises made by other rich countries turned out to be hollow. This is but only one example. The IMF has, time and again, been unable to rein its richer ponies.

Also, no matter what the cause of macroeconomic problem (in any country in any corner of the world), the IMF’s most common solution is to ask countries to reduce inflation. The Fund has to realize that all diseases do not have the same cure. Macroeconomic conditions and problems in different countries are diverse and varied. For an organization that boasts of many eminent scholars, researchers and bureaucrats, the IMF’s dogged inflationary stance makes it look like a one-trick pony.

Reducing inflation does not solve all systemic macroeconomic problems. You need inflation to achieve economic growth. If inflation really hampered macroeconomic stability and economic growth to the extent that the IMF policymakers think, why are high inflation countries like India, China, and Bangladesh achieving almost double-digit economic growth while low inflation countries in Europe along with Japan and the United States are growing below three percent?

And, why is it that it is always the poorer countries that are asked to restructure their economy? The IMF says that restructuring is a pre-condition to its assistance. Why are such pre-conditions not applied when the richer countries borrow from IMF? If restructuring is a pre-condition to the assistance, why is the United States, the world’s largest debtor, never asked to restructure its economy? Why is Italy or France not asked to restructure its economy when it borrows?

Then, there’s the issue of transparency. It has not gone unnoticed to scholars like Jeffrey Sachs that for an organization that touts itself as a watchdog, and one that seeks openness from its clients, the IMF is very secretive. Independent observers say a serious appraisal of IMF programs and policies is nigh on impossible. This is unlike the World Bank, which produces diligent and honest assessment of its programs and policies. The World Bank’s own assessment of its African performance suggested a 73 percent failure rate. When was the last time anything like that was heard from the IMF camp? Indeed, who watches the watchdog?

When the global financial crisis started to bite in late 2008, the IMF was very flexible to the European countries that asked for emergency loans to survive the crisis. Yet, it spared no mercy for Pakistan, Bangladesh and the African countries. They were still asked to cut their spending even though they were going through the same crisis as their European counterparts. Therefore, the IMF has a double-standard when it comes to applying its pre-conditions. That’s unfair. If the rules do not apply equally to all players of the game, I don’t want my country playing that game at all.

Labels: IMF, jeffrey sachs, world bank

A great piece on the French Cartels--the history and workings.

There is some fantastic detail in the 177 page report on the French cartel. The executives involved went to elaborate lengths to cloak their plans (both from their bosses and the regulators) to fix the prices charged to supermarkets. Each of the companies had a code name: “Pierre” for P&G, “Laurence” for Unilever, “Hugues” for Henkel and “Christian” for Colgate-Palmolive. The conspirators met in suburban Paris hotels for meetings termed “store checks”.

A new model of microfinance for the very poor is spreading

Most of the estimated 2 billion people who live on less than $2 a day do not have access to formal banks. Over the past 20 years, legions of microlenders have tried to extend financial services to them. But some communities—the poorest, the least densely populated and the most remote—are not attractive to traditional microlenders. And the poorest of the poor are often wary of racking up any kind of debt, even a small one. Some economists argue that what the poor really need, if they are to manage their cash better, is savings.

A village savings scheme typically involves a small group (perhaps 15-30 people) who pool their savings. Each buys a share in a fund from which they can all borrow. All must also contribute a small sum to a social fund, which acts as micro-insurance. If a member suffers a sudden misfortune, she will receive a payout.

Members select leaders and draft a constitution. The rules spell out how often the group will meet, what interest rates it will charge and what loans may be used for. At the end of a cycle (usually about one year), all the money accumulated through savings and interest is shared out according to members’ contributions, and a new cycle starts.

Once members have mastered the system, the groups they have formed can take on additional tasks such as providing training in agriculture, health, leadership and business.

Corruption makes economy expensive‚ less competitive--says Rameshore Prasad Khanal ...former finance secretary Rameshwor Prasad Khanal presenting his paper on ‘Anti corruption and Good Governance: Challenges from Bureaucratical Dimension,’ in an interaction on ‘Good Governance — Zero Tolerance to Corruption’ organised by Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) here in the Valley today. Some highlights from the news piece:

Petty corruption and rent seeking mentality create negative image of government employee but it doesnot hurt economy...public procurement, public post ‘auction’, and revenue cheating, however, hurt economy making the economy less competitive....

The world’s shadow economy or the illegal economic activities, that go untaxed, accounts for 17 per cent of the global economy. Nepal’s shadow economy is as big as formal economy that is not only bleeding the government coffer white, “but also channelising resources to the unproductive sectors widening the gap between the rich and poor,”...

Corruption is multi-pronged and due to massive corruption, Nepal is still in the group of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), whereas the ones in the same group with Nepal some three decades ago have upgraded...Apart from strong political will, some simplification in processes, usages of IT and transparency will help check the corruption...

Institutional corruption is much more dangerous than individual corruption...

The Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) has a great e-book out on The Future of Banking. A must read. (PDF)

How big is the North Korean Army?
The article also goes on to mention the way it figured out the total number of famine victims. Highlights regarding the army numbers:

One estimate from The Military Balance is formally used by the Japanese government. It suggests North Korea's military personnel are around 1,020,000 in the ground forces, 60,000 in the navy, and 11,000 in the air force. However, no clear explanation is provided as to how these figures were obtained....

The discrepancy in the 1993 census is of 691,027 persons, while in the 2008 census, it is of 702,373 persons. This means that roughly 700,000 people are not registered in administrative districts....This implies that the 700,000 discrepancy consists in part of those enlisted in the army....Looking at the demographic characteristics of these 700,000 persons, it is highly likely that a majority of them are in the Korean People's Army.

At best, this number of 700,000 persons forms the upper bound for estimates of the number of North Korean military personnel. And this, in turn, implies that the figure presented in The Military Balance is an overestimate.

Peace and Security: Indicators and Definitions. (PDF)

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From Finland, an Intriguing School-Reform Model

Ever since Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million that does not start formal education until age 7 and scorns homework and testing until well into the teenage years, scored at the top of a well-respected international test in 2001 in math, science and reading, it has been an object of fascination among American educators and policy makers.

Finlandophilia only picked up when the nation placed close to the top again in 2009, while the United States ranked 15th in reading, 19th in math and 27th in science.

The Finnish Embassy in Washington hosts brunch seminars with titles like “Why Are Finnish Kids So Smart?” and organizes trips to Finland for education journalists eager to see for themselves. In Helsinki, the Education Ministry has had 100 official delegations from 40 to 45 countries visit each year since 2005.

Class Matters. Why Won’t We Admit It?

The Occupy movement has catalyzed rising anxiety over income inequality; we desperately need a similar reminder of the relationship between economic advantage and student performance. The correlation has been abundantly documented, notably by the famous Coleman Report in 1966. New research by Sean F. Reardon of Stanford University traces the achievement gap between children from high- and low-income families over the last 50 years and finds that it now far exceeds the gap between white and black students. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show that more than 40 percent of the variation in average reading scores and 46 percent of the variation in average math scores across states is associated with variation in child poverty rates.

International research tells the same story. Results of the 2009 reading tests conducted by the Program for International Student Assessment show that, among 15-year-olds in the United States and the 13 countries whose students outperformed ours, students with lower economic and social status had far lower test scores than their more advantaged counterparts within every country. Can anyone credibly believe that the mediocre overall performance of American students on international tests is unrelated to the fact that one-fifth of American children live in poverty?

Growing income and gender gaps in college graduation

...nearly 70 years of data on postsecondary education from the U.S. Census and the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth...has shown that the gap in rates of college completion between students from high-and low-income families has grown significantly in the last 50 years

...54 percent of those who went to college in the early 2000s and who were from families in the top income category graduated from college, fully 18 percentage points more than college-age students in the same income group twenty years earlier. In contrast, college completion rates for those in the lowest income group increased only slightly over the same period, from 5 percent to 9 percent.

...inequality in educational attainment has risen more sharply among women than among men. For those entering college in the 1980s, the gap between men and women was small: about 2 percent more females in the top income group graduated from college than did males; and about 2 percent fewer females in the lowest income group graduated than did males. But for those entering college in the 2000s, the gender gap widened significantly especially at the top of the income distribution, with 13 percent more women than men in the highest income group graduating from college.

Students can’t write (or read)

That’s what Berkeley faculty have been saying since 1884, when a Professor Bradley reported that fifteen students failed the entrance exam in writing, and that he spent the next day in “ceaseless interviews with the unfortunate, the lazy, and the feeble-minded.”

Education is one of the challenges in fighting global poverty