From Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Economics should never be treated as a science. Its claims are not falsifiable, which is why economists can disagree so violently among themselves: a rarer spectacle in science, where disputes are usually resolved one way or another by hard data. It is a branch of anthropology and psychology, a moral discipline if… Read More »
The Economist discusses conditional cash transfer schemes here.
I first read of land acquisition deals in Africa about two years ago. It was between South Korea’s Daewoo and the Madagascar government, and the details included leasing the land for 99 years, mainly for farming. The produce was to be exported, but Daewoo promised to invest 6 billion dollars over a period of twenty… Read More »
From NEXT: Nigeria’s consumer inflation eased to 10.3 percent year-on-year in June from 11.0 percent the previous month, its lowest level for more than two years, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. Growth in food prices, which form the bulk of the inflation index basket in Africa’s most populous country, also eased, to… Read More »
John Comaroff thinks not: Once upon a time, anti-neoliberal theory posited an opposition between state and the free market, arguing that the antidote to the latter lay in the active intervention of the former. But the opposition is false, just another piece of the detritus of the modern history of capital. As states become mega-corporations… Read More »
Gary Becker, the economics Nobel laureate who is probably most famous for his application of economics (in his case, rational choice and utility maximisation) to subjects such as racial discrimination, patterns of family organisation and drug addiction, has recommended the creation of a market in immigration. From The Economist: As with any price, one for… Read More »
I think that basic economics, the way it is taught today, tends to give people reflexive pro-free market, anti-government positions — positions that arenot held by people with a deeper exposure to economic thinking. When your understanding of government finances is based on reading the newspaper, it’s somewhat eye-opening to come to college and learn… Read More »
From NEXT: The governor of Nigeria’s central bank, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has criticized the Federal Government’s continued spending on reducing fuel cost, renewing the call for the removal of a subsidy programme that has gulped trillions of naira but has failed to reach ordinary people as intended. Mr. Sanusi was speaking on Monday at a… Read More »
19.7%, says the finance minister.