this post explores some of the personal implications of becoming a freelance consultant, such as 'relevance deprivation' and leaving the comfort of having an established systems for managing your time, performance and career path.
Going solo: things to think about before becoming an independent consultant
In this post I outline some of the things I wish I'd known about becoming an independent consultant before taking the plunge.
From code to conversation: Localized AI fun with LM Studio and the ellmer package
Summary: in this post I demonstrate how you can interact with locally hosted LLM models in R using the ellmer package and LM Studio.
How I ChatGPT: Utilizing ChatGPT as a Public Policy Professional
This is an unusually long post. But, I wanted to write something comprehensive enough to cover the specific strategies I use without skipping over the basics (for those that are unfamiliar with ChatGPT). Note: Consider this a working draft as I'm intending to update and refine it over time Feel free to reach out if you have any comments or suggestions. How I used AI: ChatGPT hasn't been used to write this post: please see the remaining grammatical and spelling errors as evidence of this fact. ChatGPT was used for producing examples presented in this post. To make the examples…
Enrollments open: An Introduction to R for Policy Analysis
A long-time ago, in the midst of a global pandemic, I launched the first online version of 'R Programming for Policy Analysis'. Although I'd run several workshops on applied policy analysis in the past, these sessions were usually for teams that worked exclusively on data analysis and modelling. But, the unexpected chord struck by a short listicle I wrote on R, indicated there was wider interest in an accessible introduction to the R programming for policy generalists, consultants and researchers. I therefore launched the first version of the course at the Microsoft Reactor Hub in Sydney, before delivering it as…
The Replication Crisis: Thinking Fast and Slow
A couple of years ago when completing a condensed MBA course, I noted to one of the course advisors that the section on policy would benefit from having more emphasis on mainstream economic theory, rather than focusing exclusively on behavioral economics. In response, the course advisor suggested: "You should read 'Thinking Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman." I decided to hold my tongue: both because I couldn't think of a nice way to respond to someone brushing away centuries of economic theory so casually and as I was a little embarrassed to admit that I still hadn't read the book,…
R Programming for Policy Analysis – 2021 Course Resources
Note: Registrations for 'An Introduction to R Programming for Policy Analysis' are now open at PolicyAnalysisLab.com. A long-time ago, in the midst of a global pandemic, I launched the first online version of my 'R Programming for Policy Analysis' course with a motley crew of consultants, policy analysts and researchers. Despite being cobbled together using a combination of teleconferencing and duct-tape, the course was rated highly by participants. So much so, that I still receive requests from people interested in accessing session recordings and course resources. And while having people reaching out to me directly has its advantages - such…
Gender Diversity in the International Development Sector
Just how diverse is the senior leadership of international aid organizations? Colleague Astrid Haas and I recently launched a research project to attempt to answer exactly this for a key dimension of diversity: gender. Data and R code used in the analysis are provided at the bottom of the post Although I label myself 'an economist' at cocktail parties (or would, if I were invited to any), much of my career has been spent in the 'international development'. For those unfamiliar with what this means, in essence much of my work focuses on the challenges faced by nations, communities and…
Teaching men to fish
Having worked on a variety of projects designed to improve the lives of poor, I’ve frequently heard the idea floated that we should always focus on ‘teaching people to fish’. In short, we should aim for sustainable solutions that are designed to reduce the dependency of target beneficiaries, after all: “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.” Completely reasonable advice: after all, why shouldn't beneficiaries be empowered to provide for themself rather than relying on the generosity of others? The answer…
Composite indices: comparing apples with oranges
'A composite index' is a common approach for tracking and/or measuring a particular concept or idea by combining multiple data series into a single measure. Global indices, that attempt to compare and rank a nation's performance, typically try and measure something that can't be observed. You'll likely have seen these before in the form of Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, the Fund for Peace's Fragile States Index and the UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI). With each of these composite indices attempting to measure a broad idea or concept that is difficult to measure directly, such as the level of corruption,…