🔍 Episode Summary Is it too late to stop climate change — or do we still have reasons for hope? In this episode, Mark Lynas talks with data scientist and author Hannah Ritchie, Deputy Editor of…

GENEVA – Escalating atrocities in Gaza present an urgent moral crossroads and States must act now to end the violence or bear witness to the annihilation of the Palestinian population in Gaza – an out...

Pre-Doctoral Research Assistant (Development Economics)Institution: Nova SBE, Lisbon (In-Person, with Partial Remote Flexibility)Supervisor: Duncan Webb, Assistant Professor of Economics Position O...

Can social media help promote female access to political positions? Using data from 8,814 parliamentary races across 17 sub-Saharan African countries, we explore this question in a context of significant political underrepresentation of women and rising Facebook penetration over the past decade. We leverage the staggered introduction of Facebook's Free Basics--i.e., free access to Facebook through partner mobile operators--across constituencies and time, documenting the success of this connectivity shock and its subsequent effect on female political representation. We find that the availability of Facebook's Free Basics significantly increases the election of female candidates, but only after one electoral cycle. This effect is driven by female candidates endorsed by established political parties and running for the first time. Uncovering the underlying mechanisms, we document a large, positive relationship between social media use and egalitarian gender norms, particularly regarding women in politics. Examining users' online network structures, we show that this association is driven by exposure to diverse and progressive content, and that such online connections are key to Free Basics' electoral impact. Finally, we find that Free Basics' effect is contingent on the presence of fair elections but is amplified where traditional press freedom is limited.

How can we estimate state presence in areas where direct measurements are lacking? New research offers a solution to measuring state presence using machine learning techniques.

A directory of EU-made alternatives. From software and electronics to everyday products - all made in Europe

It is widely agreed that deep pockets are crucial for military success. Yet, quantitative evidence on the connection between resources and the probability of winning wars is all but missing. Our resea...