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Conversations with Tyler

Melissa Dell on the Significance of Persistence

Conversations with Tyler

Conversations with Tyler

Society & Culture, Education

4.8 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2020

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Explaining 10 percent of something is not usually cause for celebration. And yet when it comes to economic development, where so many factors are in play—institutions, culture, geography, to name a few—it's impressive indeed. And that's just what Melissa Dell has accomplished in her pathbreaking work. From the impact of the Mexican Revolution to the different development paths of northern and southern Vietnam, her work exploits what are often accidents of history—whether a Peruvian village was just inside or outside a mine's catchment area, for example—to explain persistent differences in outcomes. Her work has earned numerous plaudits, including the John Bates Clark Medal earlier this year.

On the 100th episode of Conversations with Tyler, Melissa joined Tyler to discuss what's behind Vietnam's economic performance, why persistence isn't predictive, the benefits and drawbacks of state capacity, the differing economic legacies of forced labor in Indonesia and Peru, whether people like her should still be called a Rhodes scholar, if SATs are useful, the joys of long-distance running, why higher temps are bad for economic growth, how her grandmother cultivated her curiosity, her next project looking to unlock huge historical datasets, and more.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded July 30th, 2020

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi everyone, this is Jeff, producer of Conversations with Tyler.

0:07.8

This episode, the one you're listening to right now, is the 100th episode of CWT.

0:13.9

And when we were thinking about how to celebrate, we returned to our motto, Listening,

0:17.9

Produces, Knowledge.

0:19.1

This show is about listening to learn, learning to listen.

0:23.1

So we thought the best way to commemorate the occasion would be to hear from you about

0:27.3

what you've learned across these 100 episodes.

0:30.4

To get things started, me and a few others on the team shared some insights we've

0:34.0

gleaned, and you can check those out at ConversationsWithTyler.com.

0:38.0

But we really want to hear from you.

0:39.8

So to share what you've learned, tweet us at hashtag 100CowinConvos, tag Tyler, tag

0:45.5

at CowinConvos, we're eager to see what knowledge has been produced by the show.

0:51.6

And now on to the 100th episode of Conversations with Tyler, featuring Melissa Dell.

1:02.2

Conversations with Tyler is produced by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University,

1:07.1

bridging the gap between academic ideas and real world problems.

1:11.4

Learn more at mercatis.org.

1:14.0

And for more conversations, including videos, transcripts, and upcoming dates, visit

1:19.2

ConversationsWithTyler.com.

1:28.7

I am chatting today with Melissa Dell, who is one of the world's leading economists.

1:33.6

She is a professor of economics at Harvard, and recently has won the John Bates Clark

1:38.4

Medal, which in the eyes of many is actually harder to win than in Nobel Prize.

1:43.4

Melissa, welcome.

...

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