Ranil Dissanayake
@scepticalranil
I think you'll find it's a little more complicated than that. "Office-talking monster" - my 4 year old. Deputy Chief Economist (FCDO), DPhil (BSG).
An intervention by Michal Kalecki to the UN conference on the Application of Science and Technology for the Benefit of Less Developed Regions in 1963. Amazing how much, even as the characters and methods change beyond recognition, the fundamental issues we argue about remain similar.
Showing my five year old the mechanics (and policy implications) of exponential growth and he understood it better than some adults I knew during Covid.
Jane Jacob’s in 1969 in The Economy of Cities. I know it hardly needs restating, but she was a genius. This is still basically it.
A lesson: no matter how talented, working on the basics matters. True across basically all disciplines.
Tolstoy and his confidante (a lizard). From Gorky’s Fragments from My Diary
This is a truly mad review of Perrow's classic Complex Organizations:
Bedtime reading. I’m three pages into Apology and have already written the margin note “not just wrong but dangerously wrong.” He may yet convince me otherwise, mind.
Oh, god, I'm a cliche. (itinerant CV--check; love of flexible working--check; coder--check; sideline in muay thai--check).
Today is the ten year anniversary of the fuckery tweet. Yes, the Lakers were knocked out in the first round, but this year, aged 40, LeBron James averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game. The fuckery shows no signs of abating.
Bought this in 1996 in Nairobi, and getting down to reading it only now, not quite thirty years. What an excellent dedication, quite in tune with Mboya’s character.
My son requested I ask the internet if owls have noses. AI not exactly covering itself with glory here.
Keep thinking about possible reasons to trade Luka, almost convincing myself and then… returning to this: Even if he’s never in shape, if this is what he does with a beer gut who cares?
Finally had the occasion to crack this one. Probably the best thing I’ve drunk in at least six or seven years.
The sheer self-defeating stupidity of discrimination: Columbia turned away Richard Feynman because they had “too many Jews”.
Back to my favourite place in Oxford. Lecturing on cost-benefit analysis, procurement and the dirty and difficult work of government.
My favourite thing about reading Sen is the absolute clarity and precision of thought he demonstrates. He always makes my brain feel sloppy and thinking under-specified.
This may be the most impressive part of LeBron's legacy: that he took the responsibility and pressure to lead on day 1, never relinquished it and never wilted. 22 years of pressure and expectation. Met with brilliance.
Sen isn’t often catty in his writing but when he is, he really is very funny. This is part of a criticism of George Stigler’s extremely partial reading of Adam Smith.
And I conclude with practical suggestions for how to advance localization in ways that increase the impact of development cooperation.