The data presented here convinces me that policy-induced changes in the urban share of the population could have big effects on GDP per capita and could operate on a scale that affects the quality of life for billions of people. So in research on development policy, I am not persuaded that economists should narrow their focus to the analysis of such easily evaluated micro-initiatives as funding women’s self-help groups. Neither is Lant Pritchett.

My daughter, who is a pediatrician in California, sends the discouraging news that it is the best-educated parents who are leading the movement against vaccines. They should read this Rubella Has Been Eliminated From the Americas, Health Officials Say from the New York Times. Perhaps the most famous American rubella victim was the actress Gene Tierney. In 1943, newly pregnant, she volunteered to be in a show at the Hollywood Canteen, a film-industry nightclub for American troops.

When I was in Hong Kong in March, I had an interesting interview with Cloud Yip from iMoney magazine. Here’s the transcript: Q: The idea of Charter Cities originated from Hong Kong and Shenzhen, am I right? Romer: The two most interesting precedents for Charter Cities are Hong Kong and Shenzhen, so it does have some origins here. They each played important roles in fostering reform of the Chinese economy. But it is an approach that can be used in any country that wants to implement reforms, even a developed country like the United States.

The New York Times has a good story out today on Upshot concerned with “missing black men.” (Here with background here.) The background article notes that the incarceration rate is a key contributor and observes that there are signs that the national incarceration rate is coming down. The data for NY State, which are dominated by NY City, show that the incarceration rate there has been been falling for more than a decade.

3/21/2014 On March 21, 2014 Richard Florida, Paul Romer, and Robert Sampson discussed the Challenge of the City. Topics covered include Sampson’s work on the role of neighborhood effects in the concentration of advantage and disadvantage in the same city. The discussants also covered the role that the reduction in violent crime plays in urban transformation. They also discussed the various approaches to the city taken by different disciplines in the social sciences and, specifically, about the notion of approaching the city through Pasteur’s Quadrant — the idea that the way for academics to deepen their fundamental understanding of cities is to engage with real urban problems.