Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Investment vs. participation

1 hour planning travel, 3 hours analyzing data, page count = 203

So my two trips to Berkeley are set. I'll be there April 15-19 to present the revised Chapter 1 and meet with my advisers, and May 16-23 to graduate, get my dissertation signed, and file (in that order). It's exciting to have an endpoint defined. Here's to a productive six weeks!

The MPR and PPR data has been very helpful in rethinking the mechanisms. Countries are aligning much more like I expected them to when those two figures are taken into account, but I'm still figuring out what the mechanisms there are. There are two measures: budget share is about state investment, and MPR/PPR are about societal participation. Tomorrow I need to think (and write!) about those two phenomena and how they interact to produce the outcomes that interest me.

I also spent a couple of hours job-hunting; there are quite a few interesting-looking positions out there, and I plan to submit a few applications on Friday.

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