Tag Archives: Government

Friday Links #42

1. How Mathematics might have caused the financial crisis 2. To which Gillian Tett says, Bad practice, not the discipline itself, is to blame for the financial crisis 3. Sex and the single black (American) woman 4. On Goodluck Jonathan’s Amanpour interview 5. Joe Stiglitz: An Agenda for Reforming Economic Theory 6. Zimbabwe hangman position… Read More »

Economics, mathematics and psychosis

If consumers begin to be fearful and conserve the government takes action to overcome this mental condition. How? Expand credit. If consumers then become to euphoric and spend to much the government takes action to overcome this mental condition. How? Restrict credit. Consumers spend very little time in the middle. Mathematics should be left to… Read More »

How much oil does Nigeria produce?

Apparently, nobody knows. Check this out: The Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has described the records of the country’s crude production and export as unclear, saying that after 58 years of oil production, the country does not know exactly the quantity it produces. Speaking at the presentation of a research report on the Nigeria… Read More »

Nigeria: Senate approves $31 bln budget for 2010

Reuters: Nigeria’s Senate approved a 4.608 trillion naira budget proposal for 2010 on Thursday, up from an initial 4.079 trillion naira spending plan proposed by the presidency. The budget assumes an average oil price of $67 per barrel and oil production of 2.35 million barrels per day. It also pegs the exchange rate at 150 naira… Read More »

Should we take Gaddafi seriously? (cont)

The concluding paragraph of Peter Akinlabi’s Beyond Gadaffi: Nigeria, Federalism and Other Quicksands: We can intellectualize these things all we want, but there are no more startling discoveries to be made as far as the causes of violence in northern Nigeria are concerned. Olakunle Abimbola’s getting a lot of verbal bashing (sentimental fool, people like… Read More »

Should we take Gaddafi seriously?

My friend and sociology lecturer at the University of Ibadan, Oka Obono: Nigeria was furious. It recalled its ambassador, told Libya off, and escalated what could have passed for hot air into substance for a diplomatic war. It forgot that its own security forces had failed to maintain peace in the affected area; that they… Read More »

Dominique Strauss-Kahn on his trip to Africa

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 »

Nigeria: Who needs a president, again

Would ordinary Nigerians have felt Yar’Adua’s absence? Since the experience of the Nigerian state for most Nigerians is limited to demands for bribes by officials and policemen, the government and who is running it is of little consequence to them. Everything positive in their lives is achieved by themselves in spite of the ruling elite… Read More »

George Soros on the Euro and the Greek debt problem

The crash of 2008 revealed the flaw in the euro’s construction, as each member country had to rescue its own banking system instead of doing it jointly. The Greek debt crisis brought matters to a climax. If member countries cannot take the next steps forward, the euro may fall apart, with adverse consequences for the… Read More »