Replay: What exactly is a Ph.D.?

Here is a very precise explanation (by Professor Matt Might) in a graphic way.
obs. This post is a replay from a 2010 post.

Land Regulation in Brazilian Cities

It is somewhat difficult to find academic studies about Brazilian cities published in English. So here are some interesting papers I would recommend on Land Regulations in Brazilian Cities.

1. Avila (2006) Urban Land Use Regulations in Brazilian Cities - Impacts on Urban Land Markets and Access of Low Income People to Land and Housing. This chapter starts only at page 216, buthe book as a whole is highly recommended!
   
   
2. Lall; Wang; da Mata (2006) Do Urban Land Regulations Influence Slum Formation? Evidence from Brazilian Cities (I saw this paper on Richard K. Green's blog)
   
   
3. Smith; Raemaekers (1998) Land use pattern and transport in Curitiba
   
   
4. Dowall; Monkkonen (2007) Consequences of the Plano Piloto: The Urban Development and Land Markets of Brasília (you may access the working paper version here)

If you have any other suggestions, let us know with a comment !

off-topic: Art with maps

Artist: Matthew Cusick (via)

‘mylan’s wave’

[Click on the image to enlarge it]

‘girl from the amazon’

[Click on the image to enlarge it]

Shrinking life expectancies in the USA

The average life expectancy of least-educated whites in the U.S. is shrinking. (via MR and GS)

[image credit: NYT]

"The reasons for the decline remain unclear, but researchers offered possible explanations, including a spike in prescription drug overdoses among young whites, higher rates of smoking among less educated white women, rising obesity, and a steady increase in the number of the least educated Americans who lack health insurance."

In case you want to read the published paper.

off-topic: Recommended film

The Intouchables. Great movie!

The home-ownership debate

The Economist Magazine has published a new 'Economist debate'. Should home-ownership be discouraged? (via Richard Green)

Green and Glaeser put the trade-off between market failure costs and public intervention costs in a very straightforward way. Very good food for thought! although I believe the market failures in the Brazilian housing sector (slums, informal markets, urban infrastructure deficit etc.) are quite different from those in the USA.

Anyway, perhaps the Brazilian Government should consider Glaeser's statements and rethink its housing policy.

• Related link: is there a real estate bubble in the Brazil?

 

The footprint of the world’s largest metros

A comparison of the built-up area of 129 'extended metros' that represent 35% of the world's urban population: Measuring the Human Urban Footprint (by LSE)

Take a look at the striking difference between Hong Kong and Atlanta. Pop density in Hong Kong is almost 24 times bigger than in Atlanta! Say it '24'.

Hong Kong (Pop.  7,069,378 - Density  25,933 pp/km²)

[Image Credit: LSE]

Atlanta (Pop. 7,506,267 - Density 1,090 pp/km²)

[Image Credit: LSE]

Applied Demography Toolbox

Dear readers, I would like to recommend this site “Applied Demography Toolbox”.

This page is developed by Eddie Hunsinger (Tumblr) and it presents a large collection of applied demography programs, scripts, spreadsheets, databases, and texts that data users can use to carry out demographic research and modeling. 

Strongly recommended!

Quote of the Day

“In God we trust; all others must bring data.” (W. Edwards Deming)

HT Luis Felipe B.O.

Assorted Links

1. Book Demographic Change and Housing Wealth
   
   
2. Mapa interactivo de la población extranjera en Barcelona (movilidadyurbanismo)
   
   
3. Politics in the US and the Return of Ayn Rand
   
   
4. What Makes Paris Look like Paris?  (HT Joao Meirelles)
   
   
5. Marital Status and the Recession in the USA
   
   
6. Why are Global CO2 Emissions Soaring? (via Duncan Smith)
   
   
7. A map of road crashes in Great Britain - 1999-2010 (via Michael Batty)

Rio de Janeiro Timelapse

It's been a while since I don't post any timelapse video. Here is a beautiful one showing Rio de Janeiro.



ps. I'm going on holiday to Inhotim (Brazil). I will not be back until Monday.

Related post:

• Time Lapse + Tilt Shift + Rio's carnaval

Marginal Revolution University

Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok (George Mason University) have just annouced the creation of the Marginal Revolution University, MRU. It sounds promising !

New links to Online Databases

I've just added new links to 'Online Databases' (on the right corner of the blog):

• Brazil Shapefiles

• IPUMS-International (census microdata from 68 countries)

• Global Migrant Origin Database

• OXPOP Demographic Data

• City modal split database (EPOMM)