Understanding Macroeconomics: A User-Friendly Guide
Macroeconomics is one of those disciplines where the ideas are simple, but the lingo is complicated. Paul Krugman, in his New York Times blog, is usually great at communicating the ideas of...
View ArticleExtracting the structures of economies
In the early 1960s two American geography professors, John Nystuen and Michael Dacy, were working on a way to make sense of a huge database of telephone records in Washington state. Clearly the...
View ArticleThe most important industry in the world
I’ve been modelling the interconnected nature of the global economy by simulating a reduction in demand for various sectors in various countries. It’s a very simple little piece of analysis: What would...
View ArticleResearcher as software engineer
When you go into a career in research, you imagine that you’ll spend all your time thinking, reading and coming to know. In fact, whenever anyone talks to you about your job, it’s clear that that’s...
View ArticleUntangling the ridiculogram
Anyone who’s done any work in the vicinity of network science or, more specifically, seen social scientists attempting network science, will have seen plenty of images such as this: Taken from Fagiolo...
View ArticleVisualising similarity
A model of the global economy is, by its very nature, an unwieldy object to work with. There are 40 countries (we want more; that’s coming next) and the economy of each country is described by the...
View ArticleNumbercrush
The uncomprehending, blinking gaze: this is the default response when I tell people I’m “into” data. It’s like being into electrical wiring, or urban sewer systems – yes, we’re glad they’re there, and...
View ArticleFun with projections
Everybody loves a good map projection, none more so that the nerds here at UCL’s CASA. I made a little toy visualisation of survey responses per global region for a pal of mine at Kings College, but...
View ArticleModelling Africa’s trade routes
People talk a lot about how development aid might be used to improve a country’s attractiveness as a trade partner. (Mostly the World Trade Organisation, but not exclusively!) “Aid for Trade” is a...
View ArticleThe new “improved” UN job application website
Anyone who has every applied for a job at the UN will feel a sweat break out on the back of their neck at the mention of the 90’s-style faux-Latin-named job application site “Inspira”. (Remember when...
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