Jesse Jaramillo; Zihang Liu Essays - Economics, Economy, Greg Mankiw

Jesse Jaramillo; Zihang Liu Hala Sun Writing 2 26 November 2017 Writing in Economics and Mathematics Field All academic fields involve some kind of writing. Being able to understand writings in your particular field is crucial in determining your success in your career. Of course, varied fields have even more varied writing styles. Literacy is important because it allows members of all fields to read each other's pieces and come to understanding. It allows us all in the academic community to discuss our ideas, learn, and solve major problems. Where the lines blur between fields is where real life issues need to be solved. In this essay we will discuss the unique writing styles in Economics and Math using example texts and interviews with experts in the respective fields. Economics, as a field, is the study of scarcity and what people do with limited resources. Economics, in its broadest sense, deals with production and consumption. The limited resources that are factors of production, the acquisition and consumption of those products are all covered in this wide-reaching field. Economics is heavily driven in theory and research, and there are not many new developments in the field. In other words, the theories that drive Economics are not challenged or changed often. So that the sources Economists can used are in smaller scope compared with in other field. In an interview with a UCSB Economics professor Jesse asked "What is considered good' writing in your field? What should you always and never do?" He answered that a good writing in Economics must be clear, precise, systematic, and use common language. This is summed up well in the introduction to chapter two of the textbook Principles of Macroeconomics by Gregory Mankiw, "Every field of study has its own language and its own way of thinking. Mathematicians talk about axioms, integrals, and vector spaces.[...] Economics is no different. Supply, demand, elasticity, comparative advantage, consumer surplus, deadweight loss--these terms are part of the economist's language." ( Principles of Macroeconomics , pg. 19). It boils down to using common and agreed upon language so that your peers in you field are able to understand your writing. This is extremely important to the clarity of the text. Without common language, passages like, "Because the tax change would alter the incentive for households to save at any given interest rate, it would affect the quantity of loanable funds supplied at each interest rate. Thus, the supply of loanable funds would shift."( Principles of Macroeconomics , pg. 268) would be unclear and lose meaning. Terms like, "loanable funds" and "interest rate" allow the reader, an economics student, to follow the text and comprehend the meaning. We can expect other economic texts about this topic to use the same terms. In the same interview Jesse asked the Economics professor, "What are some things you are expected to know in your field?" He answered that as Economists, we are expected to know basic problems, basic math, statistics, measurements of economic quantities, Supply and Demand, and other theories. There are a lot of basic economic ideas that are needed to understand economic writings. Without knowledge of the basic principles, any writing expanding on these subjects would be lost on the reader. These are foundation pieces on which Economists build their arguments on. We can see how basic concepts are used in order to further the discussion in Nature Genetics, "Casting genomic research as a government priority sent the message that the genome is a public good, that scientific findings were accountable to US taxpayers and that private investment in genomics would be accompanied by vigorous discussion of rules for participation in the new knowledge."( Nature Genetics , pg. 71 5). In this example we can see that the basic knowledge of what private investment and public good are allows us to comprehend the statement made. With basic understanding of foundational concepts, we are able to decipher texts that would otherwise be much too complex to understand. Graphs are used often in Economics. The ability to understand the graph and the theory in the graph is essential in understanding economics. In Figure 1 we can see the changes in Supply and Demand. This (Figure 1, Principles

How to Care for and Protect Old Photographs

How to Care for and Protect Old Photographs Whether it is paintings on cave walls or writings chiseled in stone, mankind has been recording history  since the  beginning of time.  The ability to document history photographically is a more recent invention, however, beginning with the daguerreotype in 1838. Photographs provide a very important visual connection to our ancestors. Shared family physical characteristics, hairstyles, clothing styles, family traditions, special events, and more provide a graphic portrayal of the lives of our ancestors, but if we do not properly care for our photographs, some of our history will fade away right along with those precious images. What Causes a Photo to Deteriorate? Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and sunlight affect photographs more than any other factor. Cyclic conditions (high heat and humidity followed by cold, dry weather such as you would find in an attic or basement) are especially bad for photos and may cause cracking and separation of the emulsion (image) from the support (paper base of the photo).  Dirt, dust, and oil are also big culprits of photographic deterioration. Storage Tips The worst places to store your photographs are in an un-insulated attic or basement. Constant high temperatures and humidity in the summer and low temperatures and humidity in the winter can cause your photographs to become brittle and crack. In severe cases, it may cause separation of the emulsion (image) from the support (paper base) of the photo. Dampness can cause photographs to stick together. Insects and rodents, commonly found in basements, also like to feed on photos. The best conditions for storing photographs are in a location with a consistent temperature from 65 °F–70 °F with a relative humidity of about 50%. These arent always possible in a home environment, however, so if your photographs are especially important to you, you may want to consider storing them in a safe deposit box at your bank where the conditions are ideal.Do not store your negatives in the same place as your photographs. If something happens to your photos or albums, your negatives will stil l be available to reprint your treasured family heirloom. Avoid cheap drugstore-type photo albums, magnetic photo albums, and  paper and plastic storage products that arent specifically made for storing photos. Regular envelopes, ziplock bags and other things commonly used for photo storage arent always safe for your photos.  Use only lignin-free, acid-free, un-buffered paper  for  storing  photographs or as interleaving paper in albums.  Use only PVC-free plastics such as Polyester, Mylar, Polypropylene, Polyethylene, and Tyvek.Water and fire can ruin your photos. Keep pictures away from fireplaces, heaters, dryers etc. Avoid water damage by storing photos on high shelves well away from water pipes and in locations not prone to flooding or leaks (dont store in the basement or in a closet which backs on a shower, tub or sink). What to Avoid Dirt, dust, and oils from your hands can cause permanent damage. You should handle prints and negatives along the edges, preferably while wearing white cotton gloves.Do not write on the back of your photos with standard ball-point or felt-tip ink pens. Unless it is marked specifically for use on photos, most ink contains acids which will eat away at and stain your photos over time. If you must mark a photo and dont have an acid-free photo marking pen available, then write lightly with a soft lead pencil on the back of the image.Do not use rubber bands or paper clips to hold photos together. Rubber bands contain sulfur which can cause your photo to deteriorate. Paper clips can scratch the surface of your photos or negatives. Clippings should be photocopied onto alkaline paper.Do not use paper clips to hold photos together or in albums. They can scratch the surface of your photos or negatives.Do not display important photos in your home. The glass can stick to the emulsion over time. S unlight will cause your photo to fade. If you want to display a precious photo, then have a copy made and display the copy! Do not use glues (especially rubber cement) or pressure sensitive tapes to mend photographs or hold them in albums.  Most glues contain substances such as sulfur and acids which will cause your photos to deteriorate. Look for special photo-safe glues and tapes in the archival section of your favorite photo or craft store.Avoid exposing photographic materials to anything containing sulfur dioxide, fresh paint fumes, plywood, cardboard, and fumes from cleaning supplies.Do not take special family photos (wedding photos, baby photos, etc.) to an inexpensive photo developer for processing, especially one hour services.  It is important that the film is developed with fresh chemicals and that the negatives are washed sufficiently (for at least an hour) and only professionals usually provide these services. Ask questions and make sure you get what you are paying for.

System enginnering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

System enginnering - Essay Example While artistic concepts have been retained from pre enlightenment period, analytical concepts of engineering are modern. One of the systems engineering principles that Griffin applies in his paper is maintenance of â€Å"integrity of the system† to ensure purpose (Leffingwell and Widrig, p. 69). This is expressed in his argument that failure is inevitable in processes and cannot be controlled by â€Å"additional processes, safety measures and alerts† (Griffins, p. 5). Consequently, high level of integrity, both in a system’s development process and in the system’s components is essential in successful systems engineering (Griffins, p. 5, 7). This further identifies the principle of identification and management of systems’ needs, instead of establishing control measures to protect and sustain a system (Griffins, p. 5). Griffins’ definition of system’s engineering (p. 6) also identifies the system’s principles of identifying the problem to be solved and client’s needs from the system. He achieves this by identifying the engineering scope that involves satisfying specifications under constraints. He also addresses principles such as developments of, and adherence to plans, exploration of alternatives, and validation of processes through the scientific approach of process analysis (Griffins, p. 5-7; Leffingwell and

UK and American Educational Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

UK and American Educational Systems - Essay Example Therefore, it is not possible for education sector to escape from the effects of globalisation. A close examination of educational system of America proves that the impact of globalisation on the trends and developments of education sector is more evident here than in any other country. Even though the impact is more apparent in the United States, Latin America and Canada also have not escaped from the consequences. A comparison of American educational system with that of England will help to analyse the uniformity in the rate globalisation affecting the values, culture, politics and economic situation of world nations. Public education plays a vital role in societies that respect democratic values and social equality. For those people who try to make their country more democratic and equitable, supporting public education is an essential part of their programme. Many social scientists in American states believe that globalisation, in its current form, is a threat to the public education system which supports and tries to reflect the democratic values and social equality. The chief feature of neo-liberal policies is commoditisation and mercerisation of all the activities. (Kuehn 1999). So, when this neo-liberal policies peep into public services, the activities that are previously associated with the benefit of the public are moved into the market. On the application level, the services that are once given free of cost began to be charged. A remarkable change happened in the area of free education. Free education served the purpose of maintaining equality in the society. Free public education ensured that all children are educated without considering their socio-economic status. When the Universal Public education is lost, it will affect the equality. The globalisation policies not only reduced the expenditure for the public, it also mercerised the areas that were previously managed and supported by the government. The effects of globalisation is still worse when it comes to a situation where any one can determine how education is delivered, what is the content of education, and who has the access to education. The new words like 'modernisation', 'efficiency', 'total quality', 'free market' etc., has changed the focus of educational system in the country. The education tried to form new kind of citizens with new perspectives. The above parameters are no longer applied to the workforce of the country, but it comprises the entire individuals of the society. The educational aims are made to fit to the new needs. International agencies like The World Bank, the IMF, and the IDB are trying to identify the different categories of workforce that are needed in the future job market, and the education is designed with this market demand. They aim at creating a "global policy community, constituted by an overlapping membership of globalising bureaucratssenior public servants, policy-makers and advisers" ( Lingard & Rizvi 1998, P. 262). Now, the aim of education has contracted to limit human capacity to the possibilities of the market, instead of ensuring the all-round development of individuals. In other words, the training and preparation of the citizens will be based on the rules of the market. This will lead to exploitation

Strategic Financial Management - Marks and Spencer Essay

Strategic Financial Management - Marks and Spencer - Essay Example In other words, the strategy of a company may be just to make money or it may be to provide the customers with socially and environmentally beneficial products the society may demand (Henriques, 2010, p.17). A company may have its focus only on selling its products and generate revenues. However, in that case, the company may never realize how the money is made. On the other hand, focusing on social and environmental objectives of a firm enable the company to consider its responsibilities sincerely towards the society and the environment that may include increasing employments, having no discriminatory measures within the organizational activities, manufacturing products that are pollution free and hence eco-friendly in nature (Henriques, 2010, p.17). These factors enable a company to more effectively satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers which in turn is bound to positively impact the company’s sales and financial performances. Thus the rationale behind a compan y considering non-financial objectives like social and environment issues is primarily the fact that non-financial objectives enable a company to realize the measures it needs to consider along worth selling of products, to successfully and more satisfactorily fulfill the needs of their customer having concern and facilities for the society as a whole and the environment eventually reflecting desired financial results. b. Marks and Spencer: Reporting of its performances reflecting financial and non-financial objectives: The Marks and Spencer company leading in its market in providing its customers with high quality clothing and home products as well high value for the food products it sells. The... The intention of this study is Marks and Spencer as a brand of retailer group in the United Kingdom leading among several companies. The company provides its customers with clothing and other home products that are superior in quality and provide high value for money to the customers. The company is into the businesses of clothing, home products as well as food. It is also presently known for its environmental friendly activities. The Marks and Spencer company leading in its market in providing its customers with high quality clothing and home products as well high value for the food products it sells. The reporting of the company on its performances reflect that the company not only focuses on selling products and generate revenues, but it also has social and environmental objectives that deal with serving the society and the environment as a whole. As the reporting of the company reflects, the company’s turnover has been recorded to be  £8.7 billion in the last year obtain ed from clothing, home and food products. The clothing and home products have been found to gain sales revenues of  £4.2 billion showing an increase of around 3.9 percent from the previous year. Food products have also reflected increase in sales from the previous year generating revenues of  £4.5 billion from sales. The company has around 700 stores that make the products of the company available to its customers (About M&S, 2011). The above mentioned results reflect the financial performances of the company that has shown highly improved and satisfactory results for the company implying the financial objectives of the company to be successful in its implementation.

Scars Of War :: essays research papers

The ride through the countryside was quite amazing. If you did not know, you would swear you were driving down a back road in Pennsylvania. The only visible difference were signs written in Cyrillic for little shops along the road. As the contours of Sarajevo came into focus, you could not miss the gaping, rubble-filled holes that were once buildings. I was not ready for the scenes of destruction that I was about to witness. I have hiked the hollow fields of Gettysburgh, read stories of the war in Vietnam, listened to stories from friends and colleagues that had served in Panama and Somalia, and watched the “100 Hour War'; on CNN. Who really witnesses the effect and the price a city pays years after the bombs stop falling? As you walk around the once beautiful city, five years after the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords ended the war, the physical, damage cannot be ignored.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On April 5, 1992 Sarajevo, the capital of the Republic of Bosnia- Herzegovina, was attacked. The city lies in the valley of the Miljacka River and is surrounded by mountains. The 260 tanks and many other weapons placed on these mountains could destroy the city. On May 2, 1992 Serbs completely blockaded the city. The parts of the city that could not be occupied by the Serbs were exposed to a barrage of   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2 shelling and artillery fire. Everyday the city was hit by some 4,000 shells. Targets included hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, synagogues, libraries, and museums.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As you cross the last crest coming into the city, the first image you see is the Unis Skyscrapers. These two skyscrapers are of equal height and were built to symbolize the brotherhood and unity of Sarajevo. Before the war, citizens called the buildings by the names of two famous characters from Sarajevo jokes, Momo and Uzeir. The names are of different national origin to show the multi-ethnic background of the city. The skyscrapers were continually hit by artillery fire because of their equal height to break apart the united spirit of the city. Both still stand like skeletons above the city. The progress of rebuilding is slow as only the first ten floors have been repaired. Fragments of concrete and glass still hang from iron pillars high above the street.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Grabavica Cemetery, which dates back to the 17th century, was used extensively by snipers.

Book Review on Poor Economics

BOOK REVIEW POOR ECONOMICS: A RADICAL RETHINKING OF THE WAY TO FIGHT GLOBAL POVERTY By: Abhijit V Banerjee & Esther Duflo POOR ECONOMICS argues that so much of anti-poverty policy has failed over the years because of an inadequate understanding of poverty. The battle against poverty can be won, but it will take patience, careful thinking and a willingness to learn from evidence. Banerjee and Duflo are practical visionaries whose meticulous workoffers transformative potential for poor people anywhere, and is a vital guide to policy makers, philanthropists, activists and anyone else who cares about building a world without poverty.CHAPTER 1: THINK AGAIN, AGAIN Poverty and development can sometimes feel like overwhelming issues – the scale is daunting, the problems grand. Ideology drives a lot of policies, and even the most well-intentioned ideas can get bogged down by ignorance of ground-level realities and inertia at the level of the implementer. In fact, we call these the â₠¬Å"three I’s† – ideology, ignorance, inertia – the three main reasons policies may not work and aid is not always effective.But there’s no reason to lose hope. Incremental, real change can be made. Sometimes the change seems small, but by identifying real world success stories, facing up to real world failures, and understanding why the poor make the choices they make, we can find the right levers to push to free the poor of the hidden traps that keep them behind. CHAPTER 2: A BILLION HUNGRY PEOPLE? Jeffrey Sachs, an advisor to the United Nations and director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, is one such expert.In books and countless speeches and television appearances, he has argued that poor countries are poor because they are hot, infertile, malaria-infested, and often landlocked; these factors, however, make it hard for them to be productive without an initial large investment to help them deal with such endemic problems. But they cannot pay for the investments precisely because they are poor — they are in what economists call a â€Å"poverty trap. † Until something is done about these problems, neither free markets nor democracy will do very much for them.The basic idea of a nutrition-based poverty trap is that there exists a critical level of nutrition, above or below which dynamic forces push people either further down into poverty and hunger or further up into better-paying jobs and higher-calorie diets. These virtuous or vicious cycles can also last over generations: early childhood under-nutrition can have long-term effects on adult success. Maternal health impacts in  utero  development. And it’s not just quantity of food – quality counts, too. Micronutrients like iodine and iron can have direct impacts on health and economic outcomes.But if nutrition is so important, why don’t people spend every available extra cent on more calories? From the look of our eighteen-count ry dataset, people spent their money on food†¦ and festivals, funerals, weddings, televisions, DVD players, medical emergencies, alcohol, tobacco and, well, better-tasting food. CHAPTER 3: Low-Hanging Fruit for Better (Global) Health? Every year, nine million children under five die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea and malaria. Often, the treatments for these diseases are cheap, safe, and readily available.So why don't people pick these ‘low-hanging fruit'? Why don’t mothers vaccinate their children? Why don’t families use bednets, or buy chlorinated water? And why do they spend such large amounts of money on ineffective cure instead? There are a number of possible explanations. These can include unreliable health service delivery, price sensitivity, a lack of information or trust, time-inconsistent behavior and the simple fact that the poor may not be able to tackle big, chronic illnesses. None of these reasons explains everything in isolation.But understanding what stops the immediate spread of our ‘low-hanging fruit’ – bednets, de-worming medication, vaccines, chlorinated water – is an important step in improving global health, and may finally help to eliminate health-based poverty traps. CHAPTER 4: TOP OF THE CLASS Over the past few decades, children have flocked into the schools, but schools seem to have delivered very little: teachers and students are often absent, and learning levels are very low. Why is this happening? Is it a supply issue, where the government needs to provide children with better schools, better textbooks, better teachers and better facilities?Or is it demand, where parents would lobby for quality education if and only if there were real benefits? There seems to be a problem with both. For example, parents expect both too much and too little from the schools: government jobs for those who graduate from secondary school, and nothing for the rest. Teachers seem focused on te aching small elite, and undervalue the regular students. These expectations affect behavior and generate real world waste. But the good news is that these expectations and these real world outcomes can be changed CHAPTER 5: Pak Sudarno's Big FamilyMost policy makers consider population policy to be a central part of any development program. And yet, unexpectedly, it seems that access to contraception may not be the determining factor in the poor's fertility decisions. So how can policy makers influence population? Instead of contraception, other aspects like social norms, family dynamics, and above all, economic considerations, seem to play a key role, not only in how many children people choose to have, but how they will treat them. Discrimination against women and girls remain a central fact of the life for many poor families.Going inside the â€Å"black box† of familial decision-making – that is, understanding how and why decisions are made the way they are – is essential to predicting the real impact of any social policy aimed at influencing population. CHAPTER 6: BAREFOOT HEDGEFUND MANAGERS The poor face a huge amount of risk – a friend of ours from the world of high finance once noted that they're like hedge fund managers. These risks can come from health shocks – like an accident – or agricultural shocks – like a drought – or any other number of unexpected crises.Often, the poor just don't have the means to weather these shocks, and so they get pushed into poverty traps. The steps they take to protect themselves form these risks are insufficient and often costly: they choose less profitable and less risky crop, they spread themselves too thin across a great number of activities; they exchange favors with neighbors. Yet all this doesn't always even cover large shocks. CHAPTER 7: MICROFINANCE The fact that banks are often unwilling to lend to the poor, coupled with the extremely high interest rates m oneylenders charge, was a call to action for the founders of microfinance.Enforcing credit contracts involves collecting extensive information about the borrower to ensure repayment. The high cost of gathering this information makes neighborhood moneylenders the easiest source of credit. Microfinance institutions rely on their ability to keep a close check on the customer, in part by involving other borrowers who happen to know the customer: This was a recipe for enormous success, there are more than 200 million microfinance borrowers today. Many MFIs were unwilling to evaluate whether their lending programs were helping the poor.The MFIs were financially sustainable and borrowers kept coming back, which the MFIs saw as proof enough. When an Indian MFI, Spandana, was rigorously evaluated, there was clear evidence that microfinance was working. People in Spandana neighborhoods were more likely to have started a business and made large purchases. However, there were no detectable impa cts on women's empowerment, spending on education or health, or in the probability that kids would be enrolled in private schools. One of the limits of microfinance is its inflexible structure and focus on â€Å"zero default. It may not be an effective borrowing channel for entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and will go on to set up a large business. More established businesses do not find it that much easier to get credit. In particular, they run the risk of being too large for the traditional moneylenders and microfinance agencies, but too small for the banks. We need to see the equivalent of the microfinance revolution for small and medium firms; figured out how to do it profitably on a large scale is the next big challenge for finance in developing countries. CHAPTER 8: SAVING BRICK BY BRICKJust as with lending, banks have not found a good way to adapt their services to the poor. The administrative costs associated with managing small accounts are too high. Instead, th e poor find unusual and ingenious ways to save. They buying durable goods like jewelry or new bricks for their house. Many form savings â€Å"clubs† such as the popular rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) in Africa. However, the fact that the poor have to adopt complicated and costly alternative strategies to save means that saving is harder than if they had a bank account: access to a saving accounts increases profits and consumption.With new technology and innovations like M-PESA in Kenya which allows cell phone users to send money with their phone, microsavings might become the next microfinance revolution. However, not all barriers to savings are externally imposed. The poor, like anyone else, easily give in to the temptation to spend money in the present rather than save it for the future. They have difficulty, for example, saving enough over a short season to buy fertilizer; but a program to help them buy it early increased fertilizer use. The poor may be more subject to temptations than the rich because the items they dream of may be further from their reach.Poor people who feel that they have opportunities have strong reasons to cut down on â€Å"frivolous† spending and invest in the future. Those who feel that they have nothing to lose, in contrast, save less: hope matters! CHAPTER 9: RELUCTANT ENTREPRENEURS Many expect that the poor will find successful business opportunities. They haven't been given a chance, so their ideas are fresher: MFIs have many examples of successful clients, like a garbage collector turned recycling empress! The sheer number of business owners among the poor is impressive. When tiny grants were made to small businesses in Sri Lanka, their profits increased rapidly.However, while many of the poor operate businesses, most of these businesses are tiny. The businesses of the poor tend to have few if any employees and very limited assets. The businesses run by the poor are also generally unprofitable, which may well explain why giving them a loan to start a new business does not lead to a drastic improvement in their welfare. Many businesses suffer from the â€Å"empty shelf† problem: a space a created for a shop, but no inventory fills the shelves. Even a small investment in more inventory will have large marginal returns, but once the shelves are full, the business has no further scope to grow.Despite initial large returns to small investments, many small businesses hit at point at which a substantial capital investment is needed in order to continue growing. However, few people are willing to give such large loans to the poor. Because of this trap, the poor may not invest as much (both money but also emotions and intellectual energy) into their businesses because they know that their business will always remain too small to make real money. Often, the enterprises of the poor seem more a way to buy a job when more conventional employment opportunities are not available t han a reflection of a particular entrepreneurial urge.One of the most common dreams of the poor is that their children become government workers – a stable, though not always an exciting job. A sense of stability may be necessary for people to be able to take the long view. People who don’t envision substantial improvements to their future quality of life may stop trying and end up staying where they are. Creating good jobs could go a long way in increasing the stability of the lives of the poor, which will, in turn give the poor the opportunity and the urge to invest in their children and save more.There are more than a billion people who survive off of the earnings of their own farm or business. We must be impressed by their resilience. But these small businesses will probably not pave the way for a massive exit from poverty. CHAPTER 10: POLICIES, POLITICS Even the most well-intended and well-thought-out policies may not have an impact if they are not implemented pro perly. Corruption, or the simple dereliction of duty, creates massive inefficiencies. Many people believe that until political institutions are fixed, countries cannot really develop. There may be no natural process to completely eliminate bad institutions.Institutional change from the outside is probably an illusion. But it is not clear that things will eventually fix themselves. However, fighting corruption appears to be possible to some extent even without fixing the larger institutions. Relatively straightforward interventions, such as threatening audits or publicizing corruption results have shown impressive success. Often, small changes make important differences. In Brazil, switching to a pictorial ballot enfranchised a large number of poor and less educated adults. The politicians they elected were more likely to target their policies to the poor.In China, even imperfect elections led to policies that were more favorable to the poor. In India, when quotas for women on villag e councils in India were enacted, women leaders invested in public goods preferred by women. Policies are not completely determined by politics. Good policies (sometimes) happen in bad political environments. For example, Suharto built tens of thousands of schools in Indonesia. And bad policies happen in good environments, because what the government is trying to do is hard: generally, the government tries to convince people to do something they would not like to do, like wearing a helmet on a motorcycle!The opportunities for corruption are rife. Bad policies are often a product of the three I's: ideology, ignorance, inertia. For example, nurses in India, whose job description is so overwhelming that they have decided that they cannot possibly do it, and instead do nothing. Careful understanding of constraints can lead to policies and institutions that are better designed, and less likely to be perverted by corruption. Changes will be incremental, but they will sustain and build on themselves, and perhaps even improve the political process.