General Election Hustings

Monday 26 April, 6.30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
George Square Lecture Theatre, George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9LK

Do you have a burning question to ask Edinburgh's parliamentary candidates for the Westminster General Election? Come along to this event and hear first-hand from Edinburgh South candidates why they believe their parties have the best policies. Find out what their priorities are for higher education and for students, and ask them questions about key issues that are important to you.

Panel members are:
Neil Hudson (Conservatives)
Ian Murray (Labour)
Fred MacKintosh (Liberal Democrats)
Sandy Howat (SNP)
Robin Harper (Green candidate for Edinburgh East)
Chair: Dr Mark Aspinwall, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, School of Social and Political Science, Edinburgh University

There will be questions from the audience on the night but if you would like to submit a question to the panel in advance please email it to anna.maciulewicz@eusa.ed.ac.uk

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs: Live Video-Seminar Mon 26th April

(Photo courtesy of psdblog.worldbank.org)

Organised by the University of Edinburgh Economics Society

Professor Jeffrey Sachs is one of the worlds most prominent development economists. Author of The End of Poverty, his books have twice been New York Times bestsellers. He is Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and was also the director of the Millennium Development Goals. He is an important figure in the world of development economics.
Event Details:
Date: Mon 26th April
Time: 18.20 19.20
Location: TBC
(Registration required)
This event is free, but registration is necessary. To register please send your name, email and student number (where applicable) to ed.econsoc@gmail.com subject: Jeffrey Sachs. Registration will close on the 18th April.

This seminar may be of particular interest to studying Economics of Developing Countries, as Jeffrey Sachs is the author of one of the key texts.

If you have any questions or for further information please email ed.econsoc@gmail.com.
Hope to see you there,
Robbie Marwick
Co-President
The University of Edinburgh Economics Society

Teaching Economics with GIFs

The GIF above is constructed from figures in “Culture and institutions: economic development in the regions of Europe,” a paper by Guido Tabellini, forthcoming in the Journal of the European Economic Association. One of the images shows the per capita income across regions of western Europe (higher the more blue-ish) whereas the other image shows a measure of cultural values (self reported measures of trust and respect; again, higher if more blue-ish). I use it in my class to illustrate the new theories that link economic outcomes with culture. But it also illustrates (I hope) that little visual tricks can be very effective in visualizing ideas.