Please join us for the first Change meeting of the quarter! This Tuesday at Change, Joshua Blumenstock will talk about* “*Big Data” and Development: Empirical Research in Rwanda and Afghanistan Are* *mobile phones really transforming the lives of the world’s poor? In this talk, I will describe how innovative sources of data can provide new insight into the effects of Mobile Money and other phone-based services in developing countries. The talk will focus on a set of early stage projects in Rwanda and Afghanistan that use terabytes of mobile phone data to explore patterns of charity and altruism, migration and mobility, and network diffusion and adoption. By combining such data with randomized control trials and natural experiments, I hope to develop a better understanding of the role of new technologies in social and economic behavior. Joshua Blumenstock is an Assistant Professor at the Information School at the University of Washington. His research focuses on the economic and social impacts of information and communication technologies, and the development of new methods for the quantitative analysis of very large data. Recent projects use terabyte-scale data on network communication to understand the adoption and diffusion of mobile technologies (Pakistan and Mongolia), the welfare implications of Mobile Money (Rwanda and Uganda), and the role of technological innovation in reducing corruption and violence (Afghanistan). Joshua has a Ph.D in Information Management and a M.A. in Economics from U.C. Berkeley, and Bachelor’s degrees in Physics and Computer Science from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT. What: Joshua Blumenstock on* “*Big Data” and Development: Empirical Research in Rwanda and Afghanistan When: Tuesday, January 15th at 12 noon Where: The Allen Center, room CSE 203