History of China Rap

22 years after Billy Joel, another song proves yet again that history is always easier to ingest when it comes with a catchy tune.

H/T: Michael

Speaking to the Lowest Common Denominator

Why are specialists in so many fields always so eager to use arcane doctrine that no one outside their profession can understand? I suppose one obvious answer is job insurance. If being a lawyer means years of training in the use of Latin phrases, than its much easier to demand large sums for your services. But most researchers go about their work in the belief that it will have some impact on the larger world. If this is the case, than its obviously important to think about how you can reach the lowest common denominator of public understanding without loosing the gist of your message in the process.

I'm certainly not the first one to tackle the enigma of incomprehensible academic writing; Daniel Drezner has a post on the topic here. However, I would like to point one great example of how serious academic research has been packaged in an easy to understand format without much being lost in the process.

If you have been following Development Economics at all for the past few months, you have no doubt heard about Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, or J-PAL (for a good overview on Banerjee and Duflo's findings, read the teaser for their new book in FP).* This is an effort to use Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) to gather quantitative, or hard, evidence on which development projects just sound good and which actually work in practice. The RCT process (which has its origins in medical testing) requires implementing projects in some locations while not doing so in other "controls." At the end of the evaluation, the two sample pools are then compared to see what impact the project actually had. Obviously this approach has stirred up a lot of controversy, which is well covered in this great post at the now dormant Aid Watch blog.

Despite the critiques about RCTs, J-PAL has quickly become something of a media sensation. And when you look at their website, its no wonder why. While most academic websites are dry repositories of even drier academic papers, J-PAL has taken their findings and created a simple, clean webpage where the results of their various projects are presented in a way almost anyone can make sense of. No p-values or STATA output tables here, just easy to follow bar graphs on topics like improving school attendance, which make even cost benefit analysis seem interesting. And if you're worried that this "dumming down" of research results might somehow jeopardize centuries of accumulated practice, don't worry, the academic papers are still there too. One can only hope that this is the start of a trend that more academics (and governments) will start to pick up on.

If anyone knows of any other good examples of bridging the academic-public gap or has any thoughts on the subject, please let me know!

*Caveat: one of my good friends works on a J-PAL project.

The end of Malaysian Railways in Singapore

Happy National Day Singapore!

One of the more interesting recent happenings in the city-state (at least for this author) has been the closure of the southern most 26 kilometers of the Malayan Railways Limited (KTM) and the transfer of the land they sit on to the Singapore government.

Off into history.

Through one of those quirks of history which make being a student of history so much fun, after Singapore independence in 1965 the land occupied by the KTM tracks and the two stations at Bukit Timah and Tanjong Pagar remained under Malaysian sovereignty. Inevitably, the resulting issues from immigration check points and national pride led to decades of protracted negotiations over how to resolve this geographical anomaly. Last summer these talks finally reached their conclusion (and instantly became an important case study in international conflict resolution) and an agreement was reached to turn the properties over to Singapore in exchange for a Malaysian cut of the profits generated through their future sale.

Before and after next to Bukit Timah Station. This is one of
several short stretches of track that might be retained for
posterity.

As soon as the closure was announced, questions arose about how the land would be used after the trains stopped running on July 1, 2011. As part of the agreement, Singapore agreed to dismantle the tracks and return the leftovers to Malaysia by December 31, and with typical Singaporean efficiency this process began almost immediately.

Piles of rails and concrete ties at Bukit Timah station
(taken 08/08/2011)

In the several weeks between the departure of the last train and the arrival of the first wrecking ball, something interesting happened. Many Singaporeans, who (let's face it) are not known for their love of outdoor activities,  accepted the government's invitation to walk along parts of the corridor and see a part of their country that not many had not seen before. At the same time, an aggressive initiative by local campaigners to save the "green corridor" began to gather steam. Perhaps most surprisingly, many high ranking government officials quickly jumped on the bandwagon and promised to preserve as much of the right-of-way as possible.

The bridge over Dunearn Road makes a great a photo shoot
for wannabe Harjuku Girls.

Both civil society and the government have created impressive web pages about the future of the KTM lands that are worth perusing. Interestingly, both seem to have much more in common than they differ. (For those of you who are interested in policy making in Singapore, take note of how the latter uses prior "rail to trail" projects in New York City and Paris to apparently legitimize the conversion in Singapore.)

The ability of Singaporeans to once again quickly mobilize and rise to the task of fighting for something they believe in, should serve as an important riposte to those who argue that in Singapore "civil society is nonexistent."

As an admitted rail buff, it's always painful for me to see any line shuttered. Since Tanjong Pagar was the terminus of my two and a half month long Gibraltar to Singapore rail odyssey two years ago, its conversion from living and breathing station to (hopefully) museum is especially poignant. 

Tanjong Pagar, July 2009

However I have to admit that with only 6-7 trains a day in each direction, the KTM line in Singapore was pretty under-utilized. If the future green corridor is able to help reunite future generations of Singaporean with their natural environment, and get a little bit of exercise in the process, that is hardly a bad thing.

On another note, trains are still a great way to travel around much of Southeast Asia. The Man in Seat Sixty-One remains the "go to" website for anyone planning a rail voyage there or anywhere else in the world. Safe travels!