… called Baobab. The description in the current edition of the newspaper: …it will delve into politics, econoics and culture, and comment on the successes of Africa’s peaceful elections and foreign investment as well as on Africa’s troubles. This is hoping that the language in which the discussions and analyses are framed will not be one… Read More »
Africa is a different place from how it is often portrayed in the popular media. Thanks to sound economic policies in many countries over the past decade or so, Africa has been able to withstand this crisis much better than has been the case in the past. The fact that the crisis hit Africa anyway does not… Read More »
If you count the book sales on Amazon and plot them according to frequency, the curve hugs the vertical and horizontal axes, indicating a few very large numbers (the blockbusters) and many small ones (the ‘long tail’ of books like yours and mine). This is a typical manifestation of something called a ‘power-law’ distribution. This… Read More »
is the title of a Reuters report on Africa. Read this excerpt: The International Monetary Fund believes growth in sub-Saharan Africa will be 1 percentage point above the global average, and puts eight African countries in its top 20 fastest-expanding economies in 2010. Oil-rich Angola and Congo Republic will lead the charge with growth rates… Read More »
COMMISION ON URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY, IUAES ANNUAL CONFERENCE Gioiosa Marea, Sicily, 7-9 May 2010 The Informal and the Formal: Contested Categories of Socio-Economic Life Convenor: Italo Pardo (University of Kent) OUTLINE This conference recognizes both the empirical difficulty in categorising human activities as belonging strictly to the formal sector or the informal sector of the economy and the blurred… Read More »
… is the title of a review of anthropologists Jean and Jean Comaroff’s book, Ethnicity, INC. An excerpt of the review: From the very beginning of their study, the authors ask us to take a step back and stop thinking about ethnicity only as a political tool. Rather, we should extend new attributes and opportunities… Read More »
is China. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, China overtook Germany in 2009: China took over the mantle of the world’s top merchandise exporter from Germany in 2009, according to the latest figures, aided by a global economic crisis that has taken a greater toll on other trading powers. China exported $957… Read More »
The first in a series of posts on the financial crisis by economic anthrologist Keith Hart, at the ASA Globalog. The series will engage: long-run historical questions like what this crisis is, with the news as it unfolds in real time and with issues that matter practically to people who don’t have to be reminded… Read More »
Krugman speaking on Finland: Speaking at a forum on Finland’s economic development organised by the Finnish Innovation Fund, Sitra, Krugman said that technically the global economy began to rebound at the end of the summer. He added, however, that unemployment could worsen for up to a year and a half, despite growth. “Prospects for slow… Read More »
I just read here that Nigeria is the “fastest growing generator” of sovereign wealth over the last five years, recording a growth of 291 percent. Nigeria outperformed other countries that had also made significant progress including Oman, which grew its sovereign wealth by 256 percent; Kazakhstan (162 percent); Angola (84 percent); Russia (74 percent), and… Read More »