Open Philanthropy Investigations
Journalism
A Defense of Weird Research (Asterisk Magazine)
Government-funded scientific research may appear strange or impractical, but it has repeatedly yielded scientific breakthroughs — and continues to pay for itself many times over.Taylor Swift, imperfect capitalist? (The Economist)
The pop star could have made even more money from her $2bn tourRarely is the Question Asked: Is Our Children Learning? (Asterisk Magazine)
Across the world, more students than ever are in school. But it’s not clear that they're learning more while there — or if that’s even the goal.Every generator is a policy failure (Works in Progress)
Power outages force businesses across Africa to rely on expensive, dirty diesel generators. Price caps block improvement, but removing them isn’t easy.Ukraine’s Eurovision victory was political. So is Eurovision itself (The Washington Post)
Eurovision songs and voting are sometimes war by other means.If Fire Saga really wanted to win Eurovision, this is what they needed to know (The Washington Post)
Hint: it didn't involve elves.
Energy for Growth Hub Briefs
- Investments in electricity generation and transmission generate higher economic returns than investments in expanding access. Reliable electricity is a key enabler of structural transformation — and improving the quality of electricity supply is a cost-effective way to help economies grow.
- Africa’s electric utilities are caught in a death spiral. They are forced to charge below-cost tariffs, which degrades service quality, which encourages their best customers to exit, which worsens financial losses, and so on. The solution to better reliability lies in restoring utilities’ financial viability. Smart policy design can achieve this when clearly balanced with other social objectives.
Living Literature Review On Migration
- There is much public policy concern that low income countries invest large amounts into training health personnel, but do not receive the benefits. What do we do know about this?
- A summary of what we do - and do not - know about H-1B visas and their effects on the American labor market.
- Many, if not most, people think admitting more immigrants leads to higher crime rates. This belief is widespread across the UK, the US, Chile, Belgium, Italy and most likely quite a few other countries. But are immigrants more likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens?
- What happens when a city adds 125,000 immigrants almost overnight?
Patents
Moderating a user's sensory experience with respect to an extended reality
A method, performed by an XR rending device having a sensory sensitivity control device, for moderating a first user's sensory experience with respect to an XR environment.- A method for collaborative spatial mapping.
Political Science
Domestic Violence Injuries During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From Medical Records
Published 2024 in the Review of Economics of the Household. With Lauren Schechter (CU Boulder) and Susan Parker (University of Michigan).Power, Parity and Proximity: How Distance and Uncertainty Condition the Balance of Power
With Michael P. Hulme (UCSD), Erik Gartzke (UCSD), and Alex Braithwaite (University of Arizona). Working paper available on request.Geographic Voting in Eurovision
Poster for POLI 274 Text as Data
Github Repo
If Fire Saga really wanted to win Eurovision, this is what they needed to know (The Washington Post)
Physics
Resonant Production of Sterile Neutrinos in the Early Universe (2015-2017)
Thesis: Resonant Production of Sterile Neutrinos in the Early UniverseAmerican Astronomical Society Working Group on Accessibility and Disability
AAS 228A Self-Consistent Treatment of Sterile Neutrinos In Early Universe (2015)
APS DNP poster 2015 SURF ReportActive-Sterile Mixing in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (2013)
2014 TASC talk 2013 SURF report
2013 SURF poster