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Visible Hands (Daniel)

@putmands.bsky.social
88 followers 274 following 108 posts

AP at MSU in AFRE/MI studying development, networks, and technology. My estimates are unbiased but my takes might be.

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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
404 Media @404media.co · 31/08/2026
Erin West and Paul Raffile went to Nigeria to track down a scammer. They found much more than just his identity.
404media.co
How Cyber Sleuths Tracked a Nigerian Scammer to His Doorstep
Erin West and Paul Raffile went to Nigeria to track down a scammer. They found much more than just his identity.
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I forgot I put the dril candles tweet in my microeconomics slides when introducing budget constraints. Absolutely diabolical stuff if you ask me
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
grist.org/food-and-agr...
grist.org
Inside the ‘America First’ makeover of a global hunger program
In remaking USAID’s Feed the Future Innovation Labs, Trump is abandoning an agricultural research effort built to benefit the world.
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Eytan Adar @eytan.adar.prof · 11/08/2026
I wrote a post about the emergence of AI-native students who do their research using GenAI tools. I think that there are some real risks to job prospects and the likely changes in their fields.
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CSAE @oxfordcsae.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
⭐NEW @voxdev.bsky.social podcast with the CSAE's @noamangrist.bsky.social (@blavatnikschool.bsky.social & @wwhglobaled.bsky.social) & Jenny Aker discussing the impact of using phones to reach students, teachers, & parents – & where the approach still falls short. voxdev.org/topic/educat...
voxdev.org
Using mobile phones to support teachers, parents, and students
A new J-PAL Policy Insight reviewing 30 studies across low- and middle-income countries finds that mobile phones can improve student learning, teacher performance, and parental engagement, but only wh...
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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
🆕 Information access rewires social networks Today on VoxDev, Laura Derksen (Frisch Centre for Economic Research) & Pedro Souza (Queen Mary University of London) discuss how access to online information reshapes social networks in Malawi: ow.ly/aM0s50ZAl9E
ow.ly
Information access rewires social networks
Access to sought-after knowledge can make a person more central in their networks. In Malawian schools, students with exclusive access to online information became social hubs, as others connected to them for indirect access. Policies that target initially well-connected people may underperform, as networks change endogenously.
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Charles Kenny @charlesjkenny.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
A quick note on the impact of the Trump administration ending Temporary Protective Status for 350,000 immigrants from Haiti today.
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Jessica Leight @leightjessica.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
This one hit home (+ not in a good way) expansion of high-speed internet in Uruguay *worsens* child development indicators. Why? Parents spend more time online, engage in more high-risk activities. from @kari_colombo @EFailache in JDE
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
bsky.app/profile/lizs...
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Every headline about DOGE cuts in 2025: no one knows if public service delivery is important, and frankly we don't care Every headline in 2026: who ever could have guessed that public service delivery is important???
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
1. Fela Kuti 2. ...
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
propublica.org
“Digital Colonialism”: U.S. Demands to Access Africans’ Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns
The United States is requiring access to health data as part of lifesaving aid deals with African countries. The U.S. says the data will be aggregated and anonymized, but privacy experts fear the info...
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
okay but seriously I am working with code that uses it to print regression tables and it induces like 50 potential failure points per script that randomly scuttle runs
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
sleep 100 this slow(100) that
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
people who use outr*g2, how do you live like this?
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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
VoxDev @voxdev.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Tracking rural markets using satellite imagery offers a new way to monitor economic conditions in remote, data-scarce regions – as demonstrated by a new research paper and online dashboard.
Spatial coverage of a novel marketplace map of Ethiopia
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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
Fabio Sabatini @fabiosabatini.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
The impact of the USAID shutdown on Africa, as seen from space and on the ground. M. Nicolini and I study the effects of the aid cuts by linking GODAD data on USAID projects to satellite-based measures of economic activity and IPC food insecurity indicators. 👉 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... 1/11
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cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
look at him. he doesn't even have any money
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
See, Natalie said what I was trying to, but better. bsky.app/profile/nata...
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Natalie Weiner @natalieweiner.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
did a little country-style ode to sonny and his clear vision of the mixed up world of western songs www.dontrocktheinbox.com/an-old-cowha...
dontrocktheinbox.com
'An Old Cowhand,' Sonny Rollins, and Jazz and Country Music's Overlapping History
Who's a real cowboy? The question has been central to American culture (popular and otherwise) for almost as long as it's existed, filtered through novels and songs and (of course) endless Westerns, w...
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Here, I'll get you started youtu.be/nlatJOsLhPA?...
youtu.be
Sonny Rollins - I'm an Old Cowhand
YouTube video by monomotapa15
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
I found it in the library as a freshman, and checked it out off the strength of the cover art, and have played the hell out of these songs since
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Going to listen to Way Out West tomorrow, an album that reorganized how I think about music, and I would argue is an unheralded touchstone for the yeehaw agenda (the yeehaw agenda: "country music is for everyone" [even if it's jazz])
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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
Sonny Rollins @thesonnyrollins.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins. The Saxophone Colossus died this afternoon at his home in Woodstock, NY at the age of 95. 1/2
Photo of Sonny Rollins playing saxophone in 2009 by John Abbott
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
And it works for me (my test search was "Page Rank algorithm")
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Others may find this article interesting today tedium.co/2024/05/17/g...
tedium.co
How I Made Google’s “Web” View My Default Search
Forget AI. Google just created a version of its search engine free of the extra junk it has added over the past decade-plus. You just need one URL parameter.
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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
Nick Huntington-Klein @nickchk.com · 21/05/2026
This paper is now out in the Journal of Causal Inference with some updates but the same general message: LLMs were not particularly good at matching expert judgment on whether a given variable pair represented a causal relationship. www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi...
degruyterbrill.com
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Science Magazine @science.org · 09/05/2026
Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. scim.ag/4tsDqRr
scim.ag
After USDA request, Indiana plant biologist locked out of lab by school
Move comes after Roger Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Not enjoying this hantavirus news (If this was a horror movie the weeknd's "blinding lights" would start playing faintly in the distance)
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Rafe Meager (they/them) @economeager.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
You’ve got to be bookmaxxing. You have to be knowledgepilled and on that information grind. Checking in and looking things up and citing sources. Dont let them bookmog you. Read.
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Incredible that the 25% number still holds after last year
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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
Study finds that students using chatGPT learned and remembered less than students who did not use it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
ChatGPT as a cognitive crutch: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial on knowledge retention
The rapid integration of generative artificial intelligence into higher education has outpaced empirical understanding of its effects on fundamental l…
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Apparently Nicholson and Snyder v13 has revised battle of the sexes to be "group science project"
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Expensive Shit and Zombie are the two high points I would say, either would be a good entry point
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Like, I'm not going to argue that "Excuse-O" is better than "Zombie," but it's the first time you hear them operating in that particular mode and (with the cultural significance aside) it's *almost there*.
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Doing a full listen of Fela Kuti and Africa '70 (i.e., only the 70's output) recently. Wild to hear the band shift from great to incredible around 1975. How do you find another gear?
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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
Charles Kenny @charlesjkenny.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
New Blog: A Washington Post editorial last week suggested while the “abrupt change” made to US foreign assistance last year was “messy,” it “forced governments to reform fast.” That underplays the “messy,” and there is little evidence for the reform claim. (1/n)
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
They also had a B1G Network hat on their dash to which I say [rob_lowe_nfl_hat.jpeg]
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Yesterday I parked next to someone who has an Ohio State steering wheel cover. Must be a trip to be that big of a CFB fan and work at a different university in the same conference
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
The resource curse
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Reposted by Visible Hands (Daniel)
Mike Murphy @mjamurphy.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
The @washingtonpost.com describes the deaths of an estimated 750,000 people to date as "messy"
WaPo Editorial: US cut aid to Africa. The continent proved resilient.
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Users of network goods only capture half of the benefits of their use which is why it's only HALF your fault that bluesky is dying
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
People just don't know who young buck is anymore, do they
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Andrew Mueller @andrewmueller.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Remember to be wary, as today is the only day of the year that incorrect or misleading information is posted on the internet.
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Rachel Bachman, WSJ sports reporter @realbachscore.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
After Claudia Goldin became the first woman to win a solo Nobel in economics, she got hundreds of invitations. She accepted three. One was advising WNBA players on a labor deal. She helped players land the biggest % raise in US sports history. www.wsj.com/economy/wnba...
wsj.com
WNBA Players Had an Ace Up Their Sleeve in Pay Negotiations: A Nobel Laureate
Harvard economist Claudia Goldin helped WNBA players win a nearly 400% raise. Starting this season, players’ average salary will top $580,000.
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
2) It also adds some grist for my mill on HDI either mostly proxying income or health/ed/income being so bound up that predicting HDI is like predicting income. Here, once you account for national GDP, HDI seems to be explained entirely by things that you'd regularly use to predict asset indices.
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
1) This is an interesting study! Looking forward to reading it in more depth.
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
"Using province-level administrative HDI data for training ... we find that predictions made using linear aggregates of daytime and nighttime satellite image features, anchored to known country means, explain 96% of the variation in global provincial HDI values" www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Global high-resolution estimates of the UN Human Development Index using satellite imagery and machine learning - Nature Communications
Survey-based indicators of wellbeing are often available for only large administrative units, like provinces. The authors use satellite-based machine learning models trained on such coarse data to mak...
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
This will be going day one of my fall microecon course
I hope you're hungry meme but it's Khan Academy explaining the fundamental theorem of calculus.
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Visible Hands (Daniel) @putmands.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
My recommendations on bluesky have always felt niche. I wonder if this is because they are identifying seeds of complex contagion (i.e., peripheral posters with great reach) but then have decided to treat them like seeds of simple contagions (influencers, who broadcast only to their followers).
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