SpursfanSteve

Borderline surprising? There’s not much reason for them to care either way. It’s not like they are big multinationals that actually invest in and have relationships in those countries (and can therefore be shamed as holding up shoddy regimes, etc). All they do is say "yes, you’re going to repay your debts" or "we aren’t so sure". So to me it’s a little bit surprising they care at all.

I’ve enjoyed it so far. It comes with a lot of freedoms, and you won’t hear me complain much- the faculty meetings are always tedious but the rest of the job makes it worth it.

See the above reply to MFMHM for the one that’s officially accepted. Another coauthor and I have a paper that should come out soon (it’s been "conditionally accepted", meaning we have to make a handful more edits) showing that sovereign credit ratings agencies don’t care about human rights abuses, but they do care about the publicity of those abuses. For example, if a government tortures a bunch of people, Standard and Poor’s or Moody’s or Fitches’ aren’t likely to lower their credit ratings, but if an organization like Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch does a bunch to publicize those abuses, those same agencies will respond by downgrading.

I have to get 10 things published for tenure (and have until 2025 or so to do it), so I’m pretty well on my way. I’ve got a bunch of other projects but I feel like I’ve already derailed this thread quite a bit. I’m happy to talk more about any of them, though. Email address is in my profile.

I’m actually really interested in Bolivia, though haven’t done much work on anything directly on it. A coauthor and I just published a paper on electoral violence causing* multinational firm divestment, but our data was limited to Sub-Saharan African countries.

Given the recent going on’s in Bolivia, I strongly suspect we’ll see similar economic consequences there as well. We’re hoping to include a more global sample in our next couple of papers.

*I say cause here but should note that correlation does not equal causation, and that as part of the peer review process we shied away from claiming our results were causal. We have a pretty strong theory and the correlation backs that up, which has historically been enough to make causal claims, though.

It’s really tough to tell what the market will be like for him. He’s not super skilled offensively, though he’s a good screen setter and probably underrated as a passer. He also doesn’t get a ton of minutes, and at least some of that is because he is sometimes very foul prone. 10/yr might be about right.

I was on a Visiting track here at DePauw so this was a big step up for me. I teach in the political science department- my specialty is in human rights/international law, and international political economy.

He’s really invested in coaching the US Olympic team- it’s been one of his biggest career goals. I would understand if he retired so he could focus on that, but I also think he’s still passionate about coaching, and this is the first time he’s had a group of quality young players to coach in a long time.

Murray looks like he’s finally getting back to form coming off his injury last year. Back to back 20+ point games, and I think a 4-1 assist to turnover ratio or close to it over the last 10 games. Seriously improved his jump shot. I think he’s a future all star.

Walker is incredibly exciting to watch. It’s been frustrating not seeing him get more minutes, especially behind Marco Bellinelli. He’s still finding his balance as a professional, though, but he seems like he has a ton of potential.

Poeltl is the most NBA ready of the group. He’s a defensive monster who does the dirty work. He’s somewhere between Tiago Splitter and Aron Baynes- both high quality players that could be integral to winning basketball. He doesn’t have quite the finesse Tiago did or quite the bulk Baynes does, but he might be in a goldilocks zone. He’s a one man block party though.

Derrick White, who you didn’t mention, is also a really exciting young player with a really good all around game, he just needs to be a little more consistent. He’s got the ability to fit in with just about any group, but sometimes does too much to try to fit in instead of making the game his. Really exciting to think of him as a 6th man who will close games with Murray.

but I’m not packing it in quite yet.

Things are great! Been a busy year. Moved from Athens, GA, to Indianapolis (have been teaching at DePauw U) and this summer I’m moving to University of Missouri in St Louis for a (hopefully) permanent position. Also got married in June and finished my PhD in May so it’s been a good kind of hectic.

I haven’t been able to enjoy basketball as much this year with all that going on, plus the Spurs have been so wildly inconsistent and unpredictable (aside from constantly blowing 20 point leads). I’m not sure how to feel about the team anymore, beyond hoping that they figure it out. We have a bunch of good guys who seem to enjoy playing together, so I hope they salvage the season and keep the playoff streak alive. Gonna be tough, though.

He’s a bit lightweight to play center, but he is strong and athletic. He very rarely strayed from his role, either: he’s a blocks and dunks throwback who worked a little bit on McDyess range jumpshots. I don’t suspect he’ll ever be a quality started but he’s certainly got the potential to be a contributing player.