Category Archives: Links

Loomnie Friday Link Love 23

1. The story of VW and Porsche, told by The Economist 2. The invisible hand is broken Or ‘Adam Smith might say the current crisis is proof the market works’ 3. Cotton producers press rich nations on cotton subsidies 4. Why did the price of meat drastically drop drastically yesterday at the Douala IV council, Bonaberi? Check it out here. 5. Love in… Read More »

What about growing your skyscraper?

From Der Spiegel: Three young German architects are designing structures made completely out of living trees, including a pavilion for concerts in downtown Stuttgart. But designing the ultimate treehouse turns out to be trickier than one might expect. How? The basis of their work is always the same. First, the architects build a conventional support… Read More »

A Very Brief History of VW and Porsche

You probably know of Porsche’s attempt to take over VW after it got 51% of its shares. You also probably know that Porsche was unable to take it over and is now in so much trouble that it has to be taken over by VW. It has been described by BusinessWeek as a Teutonic Turnabout. As… Read More »

Aid, Education and Finance in Africa

Shanta Devarajan, the Chief Economist of the Africa Region at the World Bank writes, in a blog post discussing the keynote speech of the finance minister of Singapore at a meeting of African ministers of finance and education: If donors want their aid to be productive, this [education] is a sector they should support. Full… Read More »

Loomnie Friday Link Love 22

1. My friend Nneoma says we choose to #lightupnigeria. 2. Filip Drapak of the World Bank’s Private Sector Development blog wonders whether Nigeria is taking the lead on PPPs in Africa. 3. Know anything about Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) in development? See Bill Easterly’s comments on it here. Chris Blattman gives his here. 4. Since… Read More »

The Leo Africanus

Check out Africa is a Country. I wonder how come I never learnt about it until now….

Text of President Barack Obama’s Speech in Ghana

From The White House Briefing Room. President Barack Obama: (Trumpet plays.) I like this. Thank you. Thank you. I think Congress needs one of those horns. (Laughter.) That sounds pretty good. Sounds like Louis Armstrong back there. (Laughter.) Good afternoon, everybody. It is a great honor for me to be in Accra and to speak… Read More »

On the lasting legacy of colonialism in Africa

Fellow BusinessDay columnist Abimbola Agboluaje writes: Colonialism was an economic consolidator, raising taxes and greatly expanding the geographical space of transactions. The technologies for achieving this feat- weapons, literacy, written legislation, public (engineering) works, banking and international exchange- were not sourced from the local society, hence the government was a deus ex machina (god from… Read More »