I just got this in the mail. Four interrelated crises are mutually reinforcing each other: climate change, the energy crisis, the food crisis and the financial and economic crisis. But of these, the consequence of the global financial meltdown presents significant challenges for African countries, reversing the gains in economic performance and management made since… Read More »
Check this out: “Here’s something you always like to see,” Stewart says, scanning the front page of the Washington Post.“ ‘U.S. Trade Deficit Startles Markets.’ Now, we’ve understood the U.S. trade deficit for a while. Are the markets small children that are easily startled? The next day, they’ll get an unemployment number and go, ‘Oh, I don’t… Read More »
Off to Basel tomorrow for an African Borderlands Research Network conference. As part of a panel on a comparative study of cross-border trade networks in Africa, I will be presenting a paper titled “Benin-Nigeria secondhand clothing cross-border trade in historical perspective”. The abstract: Today, Benin Republic is the main supplier of secondhand clothing to Nigeria,… Read More »
Examining data from China – the biggest internal migration experience in human history – this column finds that migrants from the same village tend to cluster at the same destination for the same occupation. This pattern is driven by social networks within villages that reduce the moving costs for future migrants, such as the risk… 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 »
This article was originally written for www.tradeinvestnigeria.com. In May, an Indian trade mission, led by Mr. Ravi Bangar, the deputy permanent representative of India to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), paid a visit to Mr. Jubril Martins-Kuye, Nigeria’s Minister for Commerce and Industry. One of the major issues they discussed was the possibility of India… 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 »
A reader writes: Without undermining the intellectual capabilities and the personal achievements of Ms Hirsi Ali, she often comes accross as self-overestimating and excessively self-benefitting. Since she stepped out of the islamic faith, she seems extremely obsessed with projecting islam in a negative light. For a self-proclaimed islam expert, I would appreciate a discuss that… Read More »
danah boyd writes in the closing paragraph of a beautifully brilliant rant: Zuckerberg and gang may think that they know what’s best for society, for individuals, but I violently disagree. I think that they know what’s best for the privileged class. And I’m terrified of the consequences that these moves are having for those who… Read More »
Image via Wikipedia 1. Akin pulls out tissues for President Yar’Adua 2. Goodluck Jonathan makes his first address as president to the country (Video) 3. Reuters says Yar’Adua death leaves succession wide open 4. Next gives details of the burial 5. Discussions and speculations about who will become the new vice president 6. Is it… Read More »