Will economists prove more helpful today, when the challenges are as pressing as the Great Depression? COMMENT | DANI RODRIK | At the end of 1933, John Maynard Keynes sent a remarkable public letter to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR had taken office earlier that year, in the midst …
Read More »COMMENT: Journalism’s risky tech attraction
Why news organization strategists must not allow themselves to be swept up by every new tech trend Project Syndicate | ALEXANDRA BORCHARDT | Technology was supposed to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. Connect everyone to the Internet, it was once assumed, and democracy would follow. Collect enough …
Read More »COMMENT: Closing Africa’s energy gap
Developing economies across Africa are in a unique position to invest in cleaner sources of power at a lower cost COMMENT | BHAVTIK VALLABHJEE | Africa is a continent blessed with an abundance of natural resources – water, wind, thermal coal, natural gas, and of course plenty of sunshine – …
Read More »Modern monetary realism
MMT is essentially a description of how money is created and destroyed by governments and by banks Project Syndicate, 2019 | JAMES K. GALBRAITH | Is Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) a potential boon to economic policymakers, or, as Harvard’s Kenneth Rogoff recently argued, a threat to “the entire global financial system” …
Read More »Banking on Refugees
Contrary to popular belief, refugees are on par with non-refugees when it comes to loan repayment Project Syndicate, 2019 | JACQUELINE MUSIITWA | Every minute, on average, 31 people are displaced around the world – forced to leave their jobs, homes, and even their families. These refugees often arrive, after …
Read More »African continental integration is long overdue
COMMENT | Besi Ndereya | The 1960’s press clippings and portraits of African leaders still linger in the thoughts of many. Here was a generation of men standing at the precipice of an African renaissance. More often, each had courageously fought off the yoke of colonialism; liberating his people in the …
Read More »Fighting human trafficking
Empower and train survivors cooperate with law enforcement to help dismantle trafficking networks Project Syndicate, 2019 | AGNES IGOYE | Human trafficking is on the rise, and a new report from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime reveals that perpetrators face “hardly any risk” of punishment. As …
Read More »Putting water at the heart of regional transformation
The Year of the Nile Basin: Putting Water at the Heart of Regional Transformation COMMENT | Dr Deo-Guide Rurema | World Water Day, on March 22 every year, is about focusing attention on the importance of water. This year’s celebration coincides with The Year of the Nile Basin, as declared by the …
Read More »COMMENT: Miss Curvy pageant
Why the proposal to use naturally endowed, nice-looking women to promote tourism is an assault on women | Brenda Boonabaana & Amos Ochieng | Uganda’s Minister of State for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Godfrey Kiwanda Ssubi recently launched the “Miss Curvy Uganda” pageant at a hotel in Kampala. At the …
Read More »Poverty reduction rests on trade
With today’s trade tensions, it is easy to lose sight of the progress made from economic integration | Caroline Freund and Robert Koopman | Just when poverty-reduction efforts around the world were already slowing, recent forecasts indicate that the global economy is heading into a period of deepening uncertainty. …
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