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Through smarter asset management, cities can double their investments without raising taxes COMMENT | DAG DETTER | The world is becoming increasingly urbanised, as more people are choosing to live in towns and cities than ever before. The trouble is, most urban areas are unprepared to manage the influx. Cities around …

Why currency depreciation doesn’t always allow exports to decline relative to a producer’s imports COMMENT | GITA GOPINATH | In 1953, Milton Friedman published an essay called `The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates’, arguing that they cushion an economy from internal and external shocks by bringing about just the right price …

Just as 16th century Europe needed African gold, 21st century Europe needs African migrants COMMENT | IBRAHIM ASSANE MAYAKI | In October, the European Union announced a plan to invest €40 billion ($47.6 billion) in Africa, a “Marshall Plan” for the continent that would boost economic growth, create jobs, and, ultimately, …

A micro-sociological personal perspective of the country Kampala, Uganda | JUDE KAGORO |  Rwanda is a country that is both understudied and misunderstood. Some people go to Rwanda sing praises of what they have seen and perhaps forget. Others, using euro-centric and Afro-pessimist lens, criticise uncritically. Some rely on age-old cliché to …

Why it would be a miracle if the recent round of talks yielded the inclusive, sustainable peace the country needs COMMENT | CARINE N. KANEZA | Burundi has been gripped by unrest since April 2015; triggered by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s pursuit of a third term. The crisis has led to protests, …

Our MPs’ move to extend their term of office is not only a sign of selfishness but also moral corruption. The Ugandan MPs are treating us like Russia’s Stalin who inflicted unimaginable pain on a hen, that walked back to him expecting grain. COMMENT | Allawi Ssemanda |  It is sickening. …

How failure to share family cultural history endangers symbols that represent common ancestral origin COMMENT | NATHAN KIWERE | Writing on page 137 of his book, ‘The Baganda’ (Macmillan and Co., 1911), John Roscoe, a British colonial historian, states that when animals were becoming scarce, Kintu, with the general consent of …

It is important to recognise that data alone are not enough, common sense matters COMMENT | KAUSHIK BASU | After years of stressing the importance of evidence-based policymaking, economists have clearly had some influence on politicians. What economists now need to do is to impress upon those same politicians that citing …

Weighing economic, political ties and future relationships that could prove decisive for Africa COMMENT | HANNAH RYDER | Ask anyone with a basic knowledge of Africa which country is more poised for success – Zimbabwe or Kenya – and he or she will undoubtedly answer “Kenya.” Events of the last week …

Why inflation and monetary-policy adjustments by central banks might not impact its price COMMENT | JIM O’NEIL | Writing about oil prices is always risky. In a January 2015, I suggested that oil prices would not continue to fall, and even predicted that they would “finish the year higher than they …