Author Archives: Olumide Abimbola

The Economist reviews Teju Cole’s Open City

There are three reasons why the book is so compelling, and the quality of translation will be vital if this success is to continue in other languages. In the precision with which Mr Cole chooses words or phrases he is not unlike Gustave Flaubert, who sometimes took a week to write a single paragraph. Thus… Read More »

In the spirit of debt ceilings and triple-A ratings

Just so you don’t forget that there are countries where these issues really do matter. Remember Cote d’Ivoire and the civil war that was ended with the help of France? Well, in January this year, the country defaulted on its Eurobond that was issued only last year. They’ve also decided that they won’t start servicing… Read More »

“Europe needs Africa. Who’d have thought it?”

…is the title of a piece by Knox Chitiyo for the Guardian. An excerpt: The UK’s engagement with Africa is often expressed in terms of a “new scramble for Africa“, but this misses out what Africa wants. Certainly Africa wants partnerships with the west, but these need to be equal partnerships that also serve Africa’s… Read More »

Why economics needs the history of thought

An interview with Bruce Caldwell, Director of the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University. A description of the interview: Who is going to teach fields like economic methodology and the history of economic thought if these fields aren’t taught to current graduate students? Bruce Caldwell is filling this hole in the… Read More »

Friday links

1. Another one strikes black gold (trying desperately to resist using the line from Queen’s popular song) 2. Can stocks be safer than bonds (strange times, right?) 3. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, formerly of World Bank, then of Nigeria’s finance ministry, then of World Bank, returns to take charge of Nigeria’s economy 4.  Commentary on Islamic finance… Read More »

Europeans against Multiculturalism

John R. Bowen in Boston Review: Political criticisms of multiculturalism confuse three objects. One is the changing cultural and religious landscape of Europe. Postwar France and Britain encouraged immigration of willing workers from former colonies; Germany drew on its longstanding ties with Turkey for the same purpose; somewhat later, new African and Asian immigrants, many… Read More »

Germany and the Eurozone crisis

John Lanchester in LRB: If European monetary policy is run according to German national interests, huge structural imbalances will accumulate. The Germans will then either have to pay to correct those imbalances, or agree that the euro should not be run primarily according to German national interests. If they are unwilling to do either of… Read More »