Minoru Higa

Assistant Professor @Uniandes | Environment, transportation, and living conditions | @SFUEcon, @EconomicsUcsb, @TiUEconomics, and @PUCP Alumn

[João Pedro Azevedo @jpazvd]

📊 Too much global development data still lives in spreadsheets.

But modern analysis requires data acquisition as code.

Today I’m pleased to share that the unicefdata #Python package is now available on PyPI, providing direct programmatic access to the UNICEF Data Warehouse.

Researchers, policymakers, data scientists, and analysts can now retrieve 700+ internationally comparable indicators on children and women directly from Python — enabling reproducible analytics, transparent workflows, and faster evidence generation.

Why this matters

Reliable evidence depends not only on good data, but also on how easily that data can be accessed, reproduced, and reused.

The unicefdata package helps bridge the gap between official statistics and modern data science workflows by enabling:

• Access to 700+ indicators across countries and years
• Integration with reproducible research pipelines (Jupyter, scripts, pipelines)
• Use of SDMX international statistical standards
• Consistent interfaces across Python, R, and Stata (trilingual suite!)

Making official statistics more accessible, reproducible, and interoperable is an important step toward strengthening evidence for policies that improve outcomes for children.

📦 PyPI
https://t.co/Gr93GfWhFf

#OpenData #OfficialStatistics #Python #DataForChildren #ReproducibleResearch

[David Fairlie @dafairlie]

No a los viaductos : Begonias–Pershing.
La recolección de firmas anterior fue eliminada de Google docs por alguna razón. Por favor firmen su apoyo en esta página web. No es necesario donar, solo compartir.
https://t.co/XdnfBBKiDd via @Change

[Minoru Higa @mhigar]

A special thank-you to the editors and referees, whose thoughtful suggestions greatly improved the rigor and clarity of the paper.

[Minoru Higa @mhigar]

🔥 Excited to share that my article “Is It Too Hot to Work? Evidence from #Peru” has just been published in #Environment and #Development #Economics!

Link: https://t.co/S7bvj1bAkk

#ClimateChange #EconTwitter #ClimateAdaptation #Informality

[Minoru Higa @mhigar]

🙏 I am grateful for the generous comments, guidance, and feedback from Fernando Aragon, Jane Friesen, Josh Merfeld, Kevin Schnepel, Vis Taraz, Hendrik Wolff, and participants at: EfD Annual Meeting • SEEDS 2020 • 2021 CEA • NAREA 2021 • 2021 CIREQ Symposium • LAERE 2025.

[Minoru Higa @mhigar]

@BramEbus @MattFiner @NovoaSidney @amazonacca @amazonwatch @ACA_DC @MongabayLatam @AmazonUworld @theamazonwewant @martinhidalgo

[Minoru Higa @mhigar]

🚨 New Publication🌳

COVID-19 triggered a surge in deforestation across the Peruvian Amazon.

🦠 +10% COVID-19 cases → 🌲 +1.5% deforestation
🌍 +8M tons of CO₂
💸 $220M in social costs (5× forest budget)
💰 Impact amplified by illegal mining & coca
🔗 https://t.co/oTRRBeIQzC

[Yoto V. Yotov @YotovG]

📢 NEW DATA!

Javier Flórez, Mario Larch, Sebastien Bradley, and I are very happy share the update of the most disaggregated dataset of consistently constructed international and domestic trade flows -- GRANTPA.

So, let’s estimate GRAVITY with GRANTPA.

https://t.co/e6hEytJF71

[Pedro H. C. Sant'Anna @pedrohcgs]

This paper has been in the making for so long that eight children across the co-author group were born between the time we started and now!

But it is finally out, and you can check it at https://t.co/ZFSNCPrXsg

[Esteban Rossi-Hansberg @HansbergRossi]

We have released new yearly measures of local GDP at the 1, 0.5, and 0.25 degree level. They are calculated using remote sensing data and a random forest model. All the data, documentation, and tests can be mapped and downloaded here: https://t.co/7uzq4rLXg5

[Jorge Pérez Pérez @jorpppp]

🚨New dataset alert 🚨

In collaboration with a stellar team at Banxico, Harvard, the World Bank, and ITAM, we built a dataset of demographics and labor market variables at the local-labor-market level for Mexico!
Download here:
https://t.co/pucivtZgFA
#EconTwitter #Mexico

[Jorge Pérez Pérez @jorpppp]

🚨Nueva base de datos 🚨

En colaboración con colegas de Banxico, Harvard, el Banco Mundial e ITAM, construimos una base de datos con variables demográficas y laborales a nivel de mercado laboral local en México.
Descargar aquí:
https://t.co/sBCct3tYEj
#EconTwitter #Mexico

[Kirill Borusyak @borusyak]

A few more words about the "Practical Guide to Shift-Share Instruments" that we just posted (w/ @instrumenthull, @XJaravel)

We tried to make it useful to wide groups of readers: new users of shift-share IVs, experienced users, and those who didn't even know they were users (1/N)

[Minoru Higa @mhigar]

We are hiring!
Job post: https://t.co/aNGpecrqtB

[Sarah Vincent @SarahVincent_]

Yesterday I attended the session "Publishing in #Economics" at the #NEUDC2024 with @MelissaLDell (JPE) @afosterri (JDE) @SuriTavneet (REStat) and Laura Schechter (JEBO) and I think everyone should benefit from the amazing insights and advice we received, here is my summary! 1/n

[emLab UC Santa Barbara @emLabUCSB]

🚨 New #Rpackage alert! The increasing availability of high-resolution climate data has greatly expanded the study of how the climate impacts humans and society. Enter stagg, a new R package that streamlines data processing for climate impact analysis. https://t.co/S53ioqenlu