I’m pleased to announce the launch of The New Foreign Assistance. The @StateDept is rebuilding how America does foreign aid. This creates a rare opportunity to build a system that is less bureaucratic, less top-down, more cost-effective, more focused on economic growth and therefore more capable of producing transformational results. The New Foreign Assistance is built to meet that moment. Our goal is straightforward: by the end of this administration, the @StateDept will have a well-functioning assistance apparatus that directs resources toward targeted programs that solve big challenges and help countries grow through private-sector investment.  Success will also mean a shift in the conventional wisdom. “Foreign assistance” will not mean a system that ponderously produces thousands of complex procurements for programs that at best produce marginal improvements for a small number of households. Instead, we will see an approach that works with governments, entrepreneurs, and civil society on ambitious programs capable of changing nations’ trajectories from recipients to self-sufficient partners. I’m excited to devote myself to this effort alongside an excellent governing board and advisory council that includes: @Parthion, @danielduman, @jwingateburks, @SoniaMCavallo, @danrunde, @dookhony, @TiborPNagyJr, @LantPritchett, @BruceWydick Randall Tift, Joseph Mandelbaum, Christopher Coyne, Richard Anthony Gallenstein, Luke Murry, Nathaniel Soule, and other experienced leaders from government, Congress, economics, development and the private sector. Learn more and sign up for our newsletter at: thenewforeignassistance.org

Contra American conventional wisdom, soccer is not a boring sport. Too bad it’s played by whiny, cheating wimps.

Oliver’s essay is one of the most important pieces you can read today about economics.

Is there anything yet inflicted upon the human race that more spectacularly fails to pass a cost-benefit analysis….than decorative pillows on a bed?

A bit of counter factual history I ponder: would the #freepalestine crowd and settle-colonialism canard be defanged and avoided if following the Bar Kokhba revolt in the mid 130s, Emperor Hadrian had not as punishment used his colonizer power to rename Judea to Syria-Palaestina?

Greatest understatement ever from @TheStudyofWar latest update: "Allowing overpasses to dictate one’s tactical deployments rather than determining deployments based on tactical realities is certainly suboptimal."

As a fan of @TheEconomist, a newspaper started in 1843 on the issue of trade, it is super cool to appear in their print edition. (Updated version of earlier web essay on the Supreme Court decision.)

New tracker following the foreign assistance money at @StateDept as @USForeignAssist gets going with the new foreign aid enterprise. Things are moving! thenewforeignassistance.org

A common misunderstanding is that supplying expensive new housing does not help the poor. No. Residents each move up a rung, freeing up housing at the bottom of the ladder. The latest, of many, papers to show this uses great data from Switzerland. 1/3 frederickluser.github.io/fil…

For anyone putting loyalty to a person above loyalty to the Constitution, Justice Gorsuch’s remarks should be required reading. His words are a reminder that our highest duty is to the rule of law and the founding principles that define America.

Written English has barely changed in 300 years. If you can read Harry Potter, you can read Robinson Crusoe (1719). The Spelling of our Tongue was in the main ſettled ere the eighteenth Century, & the Grammar has ſuffer'd but little Alteration ſince. Yet before this happy Settlement, things were exceeding ſtrange. In Shakeſpeares dayes, ſpelling was much more variable, & you ſhall finde notable differences in the grammar: "thou" could bee intimate or inſulting, depending vpon whom you ſayd it to; to chooſe amiſse had conſequences. Wende we now tuo hundred ȝeer bifore, to Chauceres tyme. It seemeth ȝit as Englisshe, but it nis nat esy to reden withouten greet connynge. Yet tuo hundred wintre er, sone after þat the Normans comen to þis londe, is Englisch on muchel wandlunge. Þe tunges work is tobroken, Frensce wordes comeþ in, and þe writunge is al totwemed. Þy furðor þu underbæc færst, þy gelicor biþ Englisc gesewen þære Deniscan spræce. Englisce bec þæs m. geare ne mæg nan mann rædan buton he sundorlice geleornad sy.

WATCH: Secretary Rubio Delivers Remarks to the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. x.com/i/broadcasts/1mnGeNNPq…

Step 1: Insert bacteria ("Wolbachia") into mosquitoes. Step 2: Release mosquitoes. Step 3: Watch Dengue rates plummet. Phenomenal results from Singapore. Link: tinyurl.com/59c9t67u, by Lim et al.

The most important question about any economic policy is not “does it sound compassionate?” It is “does it work?” Most anti-poverty programs fail that test but pass the compassion test, so they keep getting funded.

What gives me reassurance about the AI jobs apocalypse is that if suddenly the entire white collar class is out of work there will be instant political pressure for UBI, AI regulation etc. If the entire educated class become Luddites, this time they will win.

This result was finally published. TL;DR: Treating cancer early in the morning seems to substantially beat treating it later in the day. Just changing patient appointment times is supposedly associated with a ~60% reduction in cancer mortality.

How British queues got out of hand as.ft.com/r/ffa0e738-e616-4d…