Dear Professor Stiglitz,
First, we Ethiopian economists and scholars express our sincere admiration for and recognition of your distinguished work in advancing the frontiers of economic thinking and your world renowned contributions to the theory of information which earned you and your colleague (Professor Grossman) the highest esteem, the award of the Nobel Prize in economics.
In light of your stature, it will not come as a surprise to you that those of us who hail from developing countries follow what you say very closely. In this regard, we kept a keen eye and learned a great deal of your interest and involvement in matters of development in the Third World over the past few years. You will agree with us that all people—irrespective of race, religion, age or other attribute--...
Lifestyle
Dear Daniel,
To borrow a line from the Beatles, "I read the news today, oh boy...and though the news was rather sad. Well, I just had to laugh." There it was, another article detailing that physicians experience a higher prevalence of depression, burnout, suicidal ideation and a lower quality of life than age-matched members of the general population.
Steve Dudley
Yep, my son, you're in for a long haul. Are you sure you don't want to reconsider? After all, there are easier ways to make a buck, wouldn't you agree? It's not too late to put on the brakes and redirect your many talents. And, yes, just like the song, I just have to laugh as it hurts too much to cry, reflecting on the path laid out before you.
No doubt about it, life in medicine can be difficult. I think back to my...
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Dear fellow fighters in the Climate Justice Movement:
I am a long-time advocate of both climate justice and fundamental system change. I am writing to you with whom I share these central political commitments because I believe you are making a serious strategic mistake by categorically rejecting international carbon trading.
Recently your organization, together with over sixty other environmental justice organizations, sent a letter to the President of the AFL-CIO “imploring labor to join us in the fight against climate change,” explaining what labor must do differently if it expects to advance its cause. You obviously understand why we must sometimes reach out with advice to allies in struggle who we believe are making serious mistakes. That is the spirit in which I write you this...
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Dear Prime Minister,
We are writing to express our deep concern about the future of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
The NREGA was enacted in 2005 with unanimous support from all political parties. It is a far-reaching attempt to bring some much-needed economic security to the lives of millions of people who are on the margin of subsistence.
Despite numerous hurdles, the NREGA has achieved significant results. At a relatively small cost (currently 0.3% of India’s GDP), about 50 million households are getting some employment at NREGA worksites every year. A majority of NREGA workers are women, and close to half are Dalits or Adivasis. A large body of research shows that the NREGA has wide-ranging social benefits, including the creation of productive assets...
2,816
Dear Sir Mike,
I read your recent speech to the CBI’s annual dinner with bemusement. Putting aside the CBI’s appalling track record on key policy matters (support for the UK membership of the euro, for example) or the fact that business is divided on the pros and cons of full EU membership (note Lord Bamford’s intervention), your assessment of the UK, the EU and the global economy is, quite simply, more than a generation out of date.
It is a truism to say the global economy is changing fundamentally. But, crucially, the EU’s share is in secular decline. In 1980 the EU28’s share of world GDP was over 30 per cent of world GDP (Purchasing Power Parity terms), which had fallen to 24 per cent by 2000 and was just over 17 per cent in 2014. Its decline can only continue, reflecting...
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Dear Professor Mankiw—
Today, we are walking out of your class, Economics 10, in order to express our discontent with the bias inherent in this introductory economics course. We are deeply concerned about the way that this bias affects students, the University, and our greater society.
As Harvard undergraduates, we enrolled in Economics 10 hoping to gain a broad and introductory foundation of economic theory that would assist us in our various intellectual pursuits and diverse disciplines, which range from Economics, to Government, to Environmental Sciences and Public Policy, and beyond. Instead, we found a course that espouses a specific—and limited—view of economics that we believe perpetuates problematic and inefficient systems of economic inequality in our society today.
A...
2,455
Dear Jonny
Thank you for coming to speak to us last week. In light of recent media exposure the prospect of meeting 20 angry doctors and specialists must have been daunting. Your DM to me that you were “looking forward to it” was a surprise, but it strikes me that you are up to any challenge.
It is appropriate to address you via an open letter because this interaction began in the realm of social media, and I believe we should continue dialogue here in the light of transparency in an industry that affects every single one of us. These issues are not purely yours or mine, but also the consumers, because ultimately every cent saved or spent comes out of their pockets. There is considerable public interest in our debate and the differences we doctors have with medical aids. Let the...
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Dear Mr Dorren,
I know you have received a number of messages by disgruntled Esperantists about chapter 51 of your book, 'Lingo', and probably the last thing you want now is another one. However, while I am a (sometimes) speaker of Esperanto, and while I do have issues with that chapter, I hope that you will find my points reasonable and worth considering.
You list a series of reasons why Esperanto is much more complex than it needs to be, particularly for Anglophones, and therefore, why it has failed to catch on as the universal language.
1. Cases.
There are only two cases in Esperanto (German has four). English and French do have cases, with pronouns (e.g. "I love her." "She loves me."). Esperanto just applies them consistently.
Having these two cases allows Esperanto to...
7,052
Dear Mr Dacre,
I am writing to express my deep disappointment in the insinuation in your newspaper that Dr Hiranya Peiris was selected to discuss the ‘Big Bang’ breakthrough on Newsnight for anything other than her expertise.
In the Ephraim Hardcastle column on March 19, he asserts that Dr Peiris and Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock were selected based on gender and birthplace because "Newsnight’s Guardian-trained editor, Ian Katz, is keen on diversity."
The implication that anything outside of her academic record qualifies Dr Peiris to discuss the results of the BICEP2 study is profoundly insulting. She is a world-leading expert on the study of the Cosmic Microwave Background, with degrees from Cambridge and Princeton, so is one of the best-placed people in the world to discuss the...
2,500
Dr. Drew,
I have Endometriosis. It was diagnosed with laparoscopic surgery in 2002. Endometriosis had put me in such severe pain that I couldn’t work anymore. This was not a choice, I couldn’t sit or stand for hours at a time to do my job.
I have never been abused. I have never had a sexual encounter that I did not want, in fact. I also suffer with IC, Hashimoto’s disease, and (finally diagnosed) Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. These are not “garbage bag diagnoses”, as you so eloquently put it. Each diagnosis took time, effort, and often surgery to come to.
Dr. Drew, you have put yourself in a very influential position. Unfortunately, your word is golden with many, and possibly with the man who called in regarding his fiancée. Now, I’m not saying she doesn’t need some form of...
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