Talking about my work with refugee children and interesting possible research questions, the former Scientific Director of wiiw (that's my work place) advised me to read a classical study "Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal", looking at the consequences of wide-spread and long-lasting unemployment in a town of Austria in the late 1920s. Among other many other things, the study investigated how due to persistent unemplozment the nutrition of people, the Christmas wishes of children, the attitudes to find a job changed over time. Something that might be starkly contrasting today is how the double burden of women (work in the factory and housekeeping) changed to a triple burden (gardening to harvest food, child care, housekeeping, sewing and mending clothes for the family) while the speed of men's lives reduces, leaving them to do essentially nothing. The other book by Dani Rodrik "Economics Rules" is basically about what economists are doing wrong and what their critics are doing wrong. Yes,... both of them are apparently mostly wrong. Although the book was more frustrating than funny, I (as the organiser of the Seminar in International Economics) had to laugh in the very end. The last two of the ten commandments for noneconomists (there are also ten for economists) read as follows: " 9. If you think all economists think alike, attend one of their seminars. 10. If you think economists are especially rude to noneconomists, attend one of their seminars." |
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In diesem Blog halte ich euch auf dem Laufenden, was mir ab und an durch den Kopf schwirrt, auf welchem Fleck der Welt ich gerade zugegen bin und welche malerischen Neuigkeiten es gibt! Ich picke vor allem positive Erlebnisse heraus - für die Kollektion meines "Lebensmuseums".
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