This and That

Suuliin uyed internet oroh zav garahaa baigaad ajliinhaa zavsar zaigaar The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times (+ hervee zav oldvol The Boston Globe, yun tuld New England-d baigaa bilee gsn :P) hoyoriig hevlelteer ni unshij baigaa. Deehne garsan Walter Isaacson-ii "Kissinger" biography deer Henry Kissinger Harvard-d undergraduate baihdaa uuriin gesen uzel bodoltoy bolohiin tuld unshij baigaa soninguudiinhaa Editorial/Opinion section-g ni algasch unshdag baisan gej bichsen baisan. Tegsen bi soningoo shuud shuurch avuutaa l suuleesee hoyor dahi huudsiig ni ehelj unshdag zurshiltay bolchihoj (odoogiin baidlaar Krugman is on vacation baigaa chihshig). Hamaaguy ingej baigaad uuriin gesen bodolguy copycat bolchih vii dee gej ch bodoh shig hehe.

Anyway, gants hoyor davguy linkuud:

WSJ-iin The Numbers Guy blog-iig hutlugch Carl Bialik (ovgoos ni harval Polshiin yevrey bololtoy) + tuunii uusgen baiguulsan The Gelf Magazine -- hayadaa haa hamaaguy sport ene ter geed daliigaad baidgiig ni es tootsvol ih goyo goyo yumnuud bichdeg.

Slate.com article on getting rid of meaningless numbers: Wind Chill Blows

IT-giin nuhduud ene talaar sonsson esehiig medehguy yum. Yutay ch sayhan Bill Gates, Steve Jobs hoyor WSJ-iin jil bur zohion baiguuldag "D: All Things Digital" conference deer Mac bolon Windows-iin ungursun bolood ireeduin talaar ih goyo yariltslaga hiisen baisan + podcast

Uchigduriin WSJ deer Freakonomics-iig bichdeg Steven Levitt-iin advertisement garsan baisan ni mash ih taalagdav. Zav garval busad humuusiihiig ni ch gesen uzeerey ;)

+ Unuudriin NYTimes-iin Science havsraltad garsan (Tuesday bur gardag) "Darwin Still Rules, but Some Biologists Dream of a Paradigm Shift" hemeeh essay

Selected Podcasts

Yunii umnu suuliin sar garui hugatsaand chimeeguy baisandaa minii blogiig bainga ergej toirch baisan hun buhnees hultsel uchye. Tuunees gadna umnuh bichleg deer nadad zoriulj comment uldeesen buh humuust talarhalaa dahin dahin ilerhiilye. Ta nariin ch gesen ajil uils urgelj uudrug butemjtey baig.

Odoogiin baidlaar minii bie zalhuu oyutan status-aasaa zavguy cheap labor hemeeh position ruu shiljsen baigaa tul blog-oo bainga hutulj chadahguy bololtoy. Gehdee bolomj garah buriid bichleg uildej baina aa, amlaya. Mun tuunchlen todorhoi humuustey tsag davchuu baidlaas bolj holbogdoj chadahguy baigaag mini oilgono biz ee gej naidaya. Yaraltay hereg garval hussen hun buhen nad ruu mail bicheerey -> tuvshinred эт яахоо дот ком.

Okey dokey, tegeheer ajiglaad baihad ihenh humuus Podcast geesh zuiliig neg ih meddegguy bololtoy. Hervee ta mp3 player-tey (yalanguya iPod-toy) bol Podcast yah argaguy tanii medeelel avah hamgiin efficient source chini shuu, turshaad uzeerey gedgiig helye.

Uul ni bi blog-iinhoo baruun tald "Favourite Podcasts" gedeg heseg neegeed neleed udaj baigaa. Humuus tooj hereglej baigaa esehiig medehguy yum. Yutay ch Podcast-iig heregleh mash hyalbarhan. Neg bol iTunes ashiglaad shuud update hiigeed baij bolno (iTunes Store-oor damjuulj podcast-uud haih bolomjtoy, minii huvid hamgiin convenient method). Hervee iPod-toy bol computertee zalgah buriid chini automataar sync hiichihne. Ali esvel urid ni taniltsuulj baisan Feedreader program-iig ashiglasan ch bolno. Bur bolohguy bol shuud browser ali esvel DAP metiin programaar tataj avch baigaad podcast-aa sonsch boloh yum (gehdee jaahan ajillagaatay, tsag urchih geed baidag).

Anyway, dor heden recommend bolj bui podcast-uudaa tavilaa. Avtobusand, metrond, mashind, hooloo hiij baihdaa, ali esvel nom sonin unshch baihdaa tsagaa hemnej Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, Princeton zereg prestigious institution-uuded unshigdaj baigaa lecture-uud tudiiguy BBC, The Economist, NYTimes zereg hamgiin naidvartay medeelliin heregsluudeer tsatsagdaj, hevlegdej bui medeelluudiig tsag aldalguy sonsooroy.

Bonne chance,
Tuvshin

A collection of public affairs lectures, panels and events from academic institutions all over the world.

Harvard Extension School "Computer Science E-1: Understanding Computers and the Internet" Podcast

"Professor In Your Pocket" - NewsWeek article on Podcast Lectures

Stanford on iTunes U

UC Berkeley Webcast + UC Berkeley "Phil 7 Existentialism in Literature and Film" by Hubert Dreyfus

Addendum: Edward Said-iin 2003 ond Berkeley-d unshsan "Memory, Inequality and Power: Palestine and the Universality of Human Rights" hemeeh lecture mash talaagdlaa + Memoir of Edward Said - "Out of Place" (excerpted in London Review of Books article "Between Worlds")

Tom Waits - You Can Never Hold Back Spring

This and That

Two new blogs by NYTimes:

Our Lives as Atoms: On the Physical Pattern That Govern Our World

Campaigning for History: Reflections on the American Presidency in a Political Season


Personal Health Testing: A Users Guide

Slate Magazine "History Lesson" column by David Greenberg
Slate Magazine "Dismal Science" column

This and That

2007 onii Pulitzer Prize-iig "International Reporting" salbart hurtsen The Wall Street Journal-iin "China's Naked Capitalism" hemeeh Hyatadiin ediin zasgiin boom-iig olon talaas ni avch uzsen tsuvral niitleluud.

Václav vs. Václav - post-revolutionary Czech Republic-iin uls turiig todorhoilj baisan hoyor Vaclav-iin temtsliin talaarh Vaclav Havel-iin yariltslaga.

Addendum: Enko on Flashnews - My Country: Mongolia

All Time Favourite Slate Magazine Articles

Slate turns 10 this week. Endees setguuliin all-time favourite article-uudiig olj uzeerey.

+ Balance of Payments by Herbert Stein

This and That

Tsahim Urtuu deerees neleed deehne uyed unshij baisan buguud blog deeree tavih getel yuruusuu oldoj uguhguy baisan (Tsahim Urtuunii web deerh huuchin niitleluudiig ni oloh gej uneheer shantarmaar, ashguy odoo shinechilj baigaa yum baina) negen niitleltey harin saya sanaandguy yavj baigaad "taaraldchihav". Indiana University-giin Saruul-Erdeniin niitelsen (tavisan?) tuunii naiziinh ni enehuu zahia uneheer perseverance gej yamar yum baidgiig yaruu todoor haruulahaar... Zav garval unshaad uzeerey - "ДОТНО АНДЫН ЗАХИА БУЮУ АМЕРИКТ ХЭРХЭН ЭМЧ БОЛДОГ ВЭ?"



Gesnees "The NY Book Review" unshij baigaad genet "book review"-nii talaar gants hoyor yum tavimaar sanagdav. NYTimes-iin literary critic (book critic?), 1998 onii Pulitzer-iin shagnalt Michiko Kakutani gej neg aldag Japan huuhen bii. Zarim zohiolchid bur Kakutani minii nomiin talaar yu geh bol geed shunu noir ni hurdegguy yum gene lee haha. Hervee sain sanaj baigaa bol Henry Kissinger-iin "Diplomacy"-giin havtas deer gantshan Kakutani-giin review-nees ni (ter ni neleed positive review baisan) quotelood neriig ni tom fontoor bichsen baisan. Bodvol "Touchstone Books"-iihen Kakutani-giin neriig barij nomniinhoo sales-iig ihesgeh gesen boltoy, lol. Harin Salman Rushdie esregeeree Kakutani-g "a weird woman who seems to feel the need to alternately praise and spank" gej avsan tuuhtey.

Minii huvid Kakutani-giin NYTimes deerh book review-nuudiig ni bolomj oldvol algasalguy unshihiig boddog. Neg ih shutdegtee ch bish, zugeer bi uuruu mash slow reader-iin deer broke-ass oyutan tul suuliin uyed yamar yamar shine serioznii nomuud garch baigaa talaar barimjaa avahiin tuld geh yum uu daa. Yur ni bol Kakutani-giin book review-uudiig unshij baihad yaj ingej nomiig X-Ray-daj chaddag bainaa gej bodtol bichsen baidag. Tuhain nomon deerh ug buriig ni mash ontsgoilon avch uzeh buguud uuriin judgement-ee helehdee hoyoriin hoorond dundiig barilguy shuud hurts ugeer baigaa baidliig ni shuluuhan heldeg. Nemeed helehed Kakutani bol gaihamshigtay blitz reader. Unuuh aldart 1000 gariu huudastay Thomas Pynchon-ii "Against The Day"-iig ter dor ni unshaad publish boloh udur ni review-iig ni barichihsan zogsoj baisan gej baigaa.

Neeree sayhan bas Gideon Rachman blog deeree "The joy of bad reviews" geed ih sonirholtoy post hiisen baisan + The case for hiring biased book reviewers.

Minii medeh mash sain book review-tey hevleluud:
Guardian Unlimited Books
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Review of Books
The Economist | Books and Arts

Yag odoo sonsch baigaa duu: Matchbox 20 - All I Need

Tasarhai duu

Video deer Oasis "Definitely Maybe" (1994) album-doo bagtsan "Digsy's Dinner" duug 1994 ond Chicago-d duulj baina. Horin nas dunguj garch yavaa Liam, hahahaha.

These could be the best days of our lives
But I don't think we've been living very wise
Oh no! no!

This and That

Unuudur sanaandguy yavj baigaad mash sonirholtoy negen web log-iig Dulguunii (by the way, props to Dulguun for re-creating his blog) blogroll deerees medej avav. Minii oilgosnoor University of Chicago Graduate School of Business-d MBA-aar surch bui negen Mongol oyutan uuriin "udor dutmiin amidral bolon hicheel surguulin soninii talaar, uuriin amidral deer tulguurlan bichij" baigaa yum baina. Hervee zav oldvol zaaval orood garaaray.

MBA Life: Life of a Mongolian MBA Student in the US

Negen zuiliig sonirhuulj helehed, ene blog deer suuliin uyed ih shuugian degdeegeed baigaa tudiiguy minii huvid ihed sonirhol tatahuits negen sedviig hundsun "'Masters of the New Universe' dahiad - HF" hemeeh hedge fund manager-uudiin hagartlaa bayajij bui talaarh bichleg baiv. Mun tuunchlen dunguj uchigdurhun garsan Krugman-ii NYTimes column "Gilded Once More" gesen nertey baisan buguud bas l enehuu hedge fund manager-uudiin hemjeelshguy ih orlogiin talaar duridjee.

Ungursun 12 sard Goldman Sachs $9.34 billion-ii orlogo olj Wall Street-iin tuuhend urid hojid garch baigaaguy record-iig togtooj baisan bol deer duridsan hedge fund manager-uudiin TOP 25-iin orlogo ni niileed $14 billion bolson baih yum. End Mongoliin GDP $1.5 billion geed bodood uzeheer minii huvid WOW gehees uur heleh ug unendee alga. Uneniig helehed ene buh yandashguy ih hurungu Bush terguutey conservative-uudiin tax cut-iin ur dund bii bolson gej helehed neg ih buruudahguy baih. Ene hediigeer neg talaaraa ediin zasag usch bui met dur zurag haragdavch nuguu talaaraa bayan yaduugiin yalgaa asar ihesch bui talaar duridah heregtey. Krugman ene talaar helehdee, "Income inequality — which began rising at the same time that modern conservatism began gaining political power — is now fully back to Gilded Age levels." gesen baih yum.

Yur ni minii heleh gesen sanaa bol tsaashdaa hamaaguy ingej "irrational exuberance"-daj baigaad neg udur delbe usreh vii dee. Krugman ch gesen "But it’s much too soon to declare the march toward a New Gilded Age over. If history is any guide, one of these days we’ll see the emergence of a New Progressive Era, maybe even a New New Deal. But it may be a long wait." gej heleed ene asuudliig tsaaguur ni chimeeguyhen sanuulaad ugch.

Yutay ch "Growth that is jobless, ruthless, voiceless, rootless and futureless is not conducive to poverty reduction or human development" gesen ihiig bodogduulahuits uguulber bii. Udguugiin "global billionaire club" gegdeh 1000 hurehguy humuusiin halaasand delhiin niit hun amiin talaas iluugiinh ni orlogiig niiluulsen hemjeenii hurungu bii geed bodohleer uuniig yamar negen baidlaar uurchluh uchirtay.

Addendum: Gary Becker Explains the Benefits of Setting a Price for Immigration

Mongolian Photo Blogzzz

GAMMA agency-giin gerel zuragchin Tsatsraltaas neg udaa survaljlagch "Tanii bodloor gerel zurag gej yu ve?" gej asuuhad ni mani er "Боловсрол, мэдлэг, туршлага, хvнлэг сэтгэл..." gej hariulsan baisan. Uneheer ch yamar negen agshing aesthetics-iin huvid undur tuvshind murtuu gun utga gargahuits baidlaar buulgana gedeg bol tuhain gerel zuragchnaas dan gants turshlaga tudiiguy alivaa asuudliig harah untsug, uzegchiin setgeliin nariin utsiig hunduh chadvar geed olon talaaraa mash undur tuvshind baihiig shaarddag yum bolov uu. Tegvel unuudur ta buhnees hediigeer ene shaardlagiig buren hangah hemjeend araihan hureeguy bolovch uuriin tasraltguy huchin charmailtiinhaa ur dund udruus udurt saijirch bui usuh ireeduitey negen designer, photographer, sain and Delger bolon minii hamgiin sain naizuudiin neg Chingoon nariin Suuder Photo Blog-oor zaaval orood garaaray gej husye.

Mun tuunchlen unuudriin Mongoliin gerel zurgiin hugjild unetey huvi nemer oruulj bui Taivnaa ah bolon Asuult.net-iin founding father Erkhemchuhal nariin Agshin Photo Blog-oor orj amjaaguy bol zaaval zochlood garaaray. (unuu Mercedes Benz-d reklam heregguy gedeg shig yum bolchihloo, oilgono biz dee hehe)

Picasso negentee "I do not seek. I find." (Mongoloor mahchilbal "Bi erdegguy, harin oldog") gej helsen udaatay. Tegeed tsaashdaa Mongoliin gerel zurgiin hugjild mash tom uurgiig guitsetgej bui ta buhnii camernii durand urgelj altaar hemjishguy unet agshnuud urtuj baigaasay gej yuruuy.

Addendum: http://usukh.photoblog.com/, http://blog.flickr.com/

Unuudriin sanal bolgoh hugjim

Neg tanidag Makedoni nuhur deehne udiin hool hamt idej baigaad nadad "Hediigeer Balkanii Hoigiin ulsuud uls turiin huvid hezee ch negdej baigaaguy bolovch, duu hugjmiin huvid Balkanuud shig negdmel humuusiig chi uur haanaas ch olj chadahguy" gej helj baisan udaatay. Uneheer ch Balkanii duu hugjim, vino, tsagaan idee ni gaihamshigtay buguud zuvhun ene nutgiihand tengerees hairlasan hishig geltey. Tegvel enehuu nutgiin terhuu gaihamshgiig uurtuu shingeesen Goran Bregovic and Athens Symphony Orchestra - Balkanica album-iig sanal bolgoyo. Sonsch uzeed setgegdelee uldeegeerey.



P.S: Uuniig bichigch beer ungursun zun Chicago-d Goran Bregovic-iig amidaar ni harah altan bolomjiig aldaj baisan henegguy tolgoi baigaam. Hervee ene album-iig olj chadahguy baival gemshil bolgoj upload hiiye.

More on un-gay (aka dismal) science

NYTimes-iig unshdag humuus David Leonhardt-iin ediin zasag, business-iin talaar bichdeg column-iig barag andahguy baih. Mash engiin ugeer sonirholtoy, medeelel saitay bichigddeg tuunii analysis-uudiig hervee bolomj garval unshij baigaaray.

Yutay ch Leonhardt ungursun doloo honogt yurduu horihon sariin daraa boloh gej bui ANU-iin yurunhiilugchiin songuulid huch uzeheer tuluvluud bui ner buhii humuusiin ediin zasgiin muriin hutulburuudiig ni hen hen todorhoilj baigaa talaar negen sonirholtoy niitleliig bichjee:

The Advisers Who Are Writing the Future of US

End ajiglagdsan negen temdegluushtey zuil ni gevel advisor-oor ajillaj bui ihenh ediin zasagchid ni nasnii huvid mash zaluu buyu jinhene id buteedeg nasan deeree baih yum (dismal science is getting younger gsn :P). Ene ch utgaaraa neleed risky sanaluudiig zorigtoygoor gargaj irj medeh. Bas negen anhaaral tatsan zuil ni gevel Greg Mankiw Republican Party-giin Mitt Romney-giin tald orchihson Bush-iin tax cut-iig urgeljluuleh geed uzej baigaa boltoy (gehdee mani er carbon emission-d Pigouvian Tax onooj negative externality-g bagasgana geed avaad baigaa hehe). Amerikiin rich and poor gap ni record high-daa hurchihsan baigaa nuhtsuld ene idea demjleg avch chadah bolov uu?(or maybe I'm just reading too much Krugman :P)

Anyway, comment hesegt ta buhen hen hamgiin sound economic policy-g sanal bolgoj baigaa talaar bodloo uldeegeerey.

Addendum: The latest Leonhardt column What’s Really Squeezing the Middle Class?
+ David Leonhardt's NYTimes homepage and David Leonhardt on EconTalk talking about "media bias, competition between old and new media, global warming, and the role of information as an incentive to provide better health care."

Criticisms against Anarcho-Capitalism

Anarcho-capitalism, in my opinion, is a doctrinal system which, if ever implemented, would lead to forms of tyranny and oppression that have few counterparts in human history. There isn't the slightest possibility that its (in my view, horrendous) ideas would be implemented, because they would quickly destroy any society that made this colossal error. The idea of "free contract" between the potentate and his starving subject is a sick joke, perhaps worth some moments in an academic seminar exploring the consequences of (in my view, absurd) ideas, but nowhere else.

Noam Chomsky Answers from Chomsky to eight questions on anarchism, 1996

Нийгэмд ардчилал төгс ялах ганцхан үндэс нөхцөл бий. Энэ бол эд таваарын үйлдвэрлэлийн бүх бүтээгдэхүүнийг жинхэнэ үнээр нь үнэлэх буюу бүр үнэгүй болгох явдал юм.

Еншөөбүү Улаан Ямаат Дамдинсүрэнгийн Урианхай "Маргаашаас асуух өнөөдрийн асуудлууд"

Peter McLaren-ий Анархо-Капитализмын шүүмжилсэн нэгэн сонирхолтой өгүүлбэрийг уншиж байсан боловч энд тавих гэтэл хайгаад хайгаад олж чадсангүй. Бодвол консервативуудын witch hunt-ын үеэр далд орсон бололтой.

The difference between Marketing, PR, Advertising and Branding

via Ads of The World

History’s 100 Most Influencial people: Japan Version

Yaponchuud sayhan delhiin hamgiin nuluu buhii 100 huniig shalgaruuljee. Buten list-iig ni Japan Probe deerees uzej boloh ni.

Sakamoto Ryoma
Napoleon I
Oda Nobunaga
Saigo Takamori
Miyamoto no Yoshitsune
Jean of Arc
Hideyoshi Toyotomi
Albert Einstein
Yutaka Ozaki
Akechi Mitsuhide
Genghis Khan
Tokugaya Ieyasu
Thomas Edison
Florence Nightengale
Chiune Sugihara
Kyu Sakamoto
Hijikata Toshizo
Rikidozan
Yoshida Shoin
Mahatma Gandhi

Songoltuudiig ni harval Yaponchuud yur ni ih daliigaa yu daa gej bodogodohoor. Barag talaas iluu ni uursdiinh ni Yaponchuud baisnii deer ihenhiig ni ach holbogdloor ni bus harin orond ni setgel hudulgum tuuh namtartaygaar ni jagsaachihaj.


Gesnees ter nevtruulegt ni unuu Dagvadorj Chingis Haaniig tuluulsun baih yum. Marzan ch yum aa daa...

The quality of aid matters as much as the quantity

MAIMONIDES, a 12th-century rabbi and philosopher, argued that it is better to give anonymously, like the sages who secretly placed coins under the doors of the poor, than to flaunt your generosity. Better still, he said, to pool your charity—by contributing to a tzedakah box, for example—so that neither the poor nor their benefactor know the other's identity.

http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8960645

P.S: Uriankhai and Kant

There you go

А.Даунер Монгол Улс Австрали улсыг “гурав дахь хөрш” гэж нэрлэсэнд талархаж байгаагаа илэрхийлжээ.

http://www.mongolnews.mn/index.php?module=unuudur&sec=view&id=16984

P.S: Mongol Ulsiin 3 dahi Hurshuud

Zaaval sonsoh duunuud

Is Freakonomics Ruining Economics?

"Freaks and Geeks: How Freakonomics is Ruining the Dismal Science" by Noam Scheiber
(endees text, harin endees PDF-iig ni unshaaray)

various comments on this article

Freakonomics Blog
Marginal Revolution
Free Exchange

Clever Economists
by Noam Scheiber

In the current issue, I criticize the recent rush by economists to produce cute and clever work, à la Freakonomics. But cleverness isn't always a bad quality in an economist. Herewith, a guide to four papers (available publicly only as working papers rather than in their final forms) that use cleverness to answer genuinely important questions:

• "The Impact of the Mariel Boat Lift on the Miami Labor Market," by David Card, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, January 1990
Card exploited a "natural experiment" to help sort out whether poor, uneducated immigrants take jobs from native-born Americans. The setting was Miami in the early '80s, just after the Mariel boat lift dumped tens of thousands of Cuban refugees onto the city's shores. Card found that, contrary to the widespread assumption that immigrants bid down wages and raise unemployment for low-skilled workers, the refugees had almost no effect on either figure. Somehow, the Miami labor market had easily absorbed the immigrants.

• "Minimum Wages and Employment," by David Card and Alan Krueger, American Economic Review, September 1994
Card and Krueger waded into the debate about whether the minimum wage leads to higher unemployment. They relied on a natural experiment set in New Jersey in 1992, just after the state's legislature raised its minimum wage to $5.05, the most generous in the country at the time. Card and Krueger compared fast food restaurants in New Jersey with similar restaurants just across the river in eastern Pennsylvania, where the labor market was similar except for the minimum wage. They found that the New Jersey increase did not cause unemployment.

• "The Power of Suggestion," by Brigitte Madrian and Dennis Shea, Quarterly Journal of Economics, November 2001
Economic theory predicts that the amount of money people save depends on certain fundamental factors, such as their disposable income or various financial incentives (like tax subsidies or employer matching). But behavioral economists have long proposed a simpler explanation for why people don't save: They have a strong psychological bias in favor of the status quo, which, for example, might keep them from enrolling in 401(k) plans. Madrian and Shea set out to test this proposition. They studied a Fortune 500 company that had recently changed its 401(k) plan in exactly one respect: Prior to the change, employees had to sign up for the plan voluntarily. After the change, the company enrolled them automatically but allowed them to drop out if they chose to. Enrollment went up dramatically. The result helped change the way we think about promoting retirement saving.

• "Salience and Taxation," by Raj Chetty, Adam Looney, and Kory Kroft, March 2007
Economists have long assumed that people care only about the overall cost of a good or service, not the price of a good before taxes. Chetty, Looney, and Kroft tested this assumption with an experiment at a supermarket: They took 1,000 products and listed the price a customer would pay after taxes just below the actual price tag. Relative to similar products at other stores, demand for the goods fell about seven percent. They also noticed that an increase in the tax on alcohol, which is included in the price displayed at liquor stores, tends to reduce alcohol purchases much more than an increase in the sales tax, which only shows up at the register. The authors demonstrated how the findings have potentially huge implications for tax policy.

An archive of articles by Noam Scheiber for New York Magazine
Noam Scheiber's recent articles for The New Republic

The African Connection

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: April 4, 2007
NAIROBI, Kenya

Was anybody out there checking out jobs with the U.S. post office in 2005? Do you remember when you called that 800 number to get details? Sure you do. Do you remember how the voice on the other end of the line helping you had this soft British accent with a slight African lilt? Do you know why? Because you were routed to a call center in Kenya.

So maybe you weren’t looking for a job, but you had just bought a new computer. And when you turned it on, you clicked the icon for one of America’s biggest Internet service providers to get broadband access. But you needed someone to talk you through getting it connected — so you called that 800 number. The techie who helped you was also a Kenyan at that same Nairobi call center.

It’s called KenCall. It is located in an abandoned avocado processing plant, and it is the largest of Kenya’s blooming outsourcing call centers, with almost 300 employees and annual revenues that have grown to $3.5 million since it opened three years ago. If you’re surprised it’s here, so are most of its customers.

“I was actually talking to someone in America who had just given birth and she was ordering high-speed D.S.L. for her new residence — three or four hours after the birth,” said Nina Nyongesa, a 25-year-old KenCall supervisor and I.T. graduate of Nairobi University. “She said to me, ‘Where are you?’ I said, ‘Nairobi.’ And she said, ‘Are you sure?’ And she was really happy — so she bought one for herself, one for her mother and one for her mother-in-law. So instead of making one sale I made three.”

KenCall is one small reason that Kenya’s economy grew 6 percent last year. Yes, Kenya still has all the ills of other African states — from AIDS to abject poverty. But Kenya also now has a democratically elected government that is learning to get out of the way of Kenya’s entrepreneurs and to get them the bandwidth they need to compete globally. It’s way too early to declare Kenya an economic “African Tiger,” but something is stirring here that bears watching — and KenCall is emblematic of it.

The company was started by the half-English, half-Kenyan Nicholas Nesbitt, his brother Eric and his brother-in-law Stephen Liggins. Nicholas Nesbitt and Liggins had made successful careers on Wall Street. But after Kenya’s democratic elections in 2002, they decided to come home and see if they could do good for their country and for themselves by taking advantage of Kenya’s large pool of educated, English-speaking talent to break into the outsourcing industry.

There was one big problem. Kenya, like the rest of East Africa, was not connected to any global undersea fiber-optic cable that would give it the cheap high-speed bandwidth of the scale needed by call centers. The Internet here all came via satellite, which is more expensive to begin with and was made even more so by the fact that the Kenyan state phone company had a monopoly.

In a rare move in Africa, the Kenyan government decided to give up that monopoly and open competition for satellite-provided bandwidth — even though it meant laying off 6,000 government workers. The competition made KenCall’s business possible. The Kenyan government is now working feverishly to get connected to the global fiber-optic network, via an undersea cable, which would make bandwidth here cheap and plentiful enough for all sorts of outsourcing.

KenCall opened in late 2004, taking orders for U.S. late-night TV commercials. Its Kenyan operators sold Yellow Page ads, security alarms and mortgages. But it has since grown its business to include data-entry for one of the premier Wall Street credit-rating firms and handling service calls for global banks and insurance companies. For an economy dependent on coffee, safaris and flowers, this is a real change of pace.

“The concept of connecting to the outside world and attracting investors from the outside — that has not been here before,” remarked Stephen Ogunde, another KenCall supervisor.

KenCall’s employees can make in a month what half of Kenya’s population makes in a year: around $350. They get health care and free transportation.

Don’t give up on Africa. KenCall is a reminder that with a little less government regulation, a little more democracy and a lot more bandwidth, African entrepreneurs can play this game too. “In the old days, ‘landlocked’ meant you didn’t have a harbor,” said Mr. Nesbitt. “In the new days, it means you don’t have fiber broadband to the rest of the world. This whole market here is just waiting for that.”

http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/opinion/04friedman.html?hp