In The News

Tech Companies Struggle to Get World on Internet

Evelyn M. Rusli April 22, 2015
Two thirds of the world’s people still lack access to the internet. “The possibility of connecting those four billion people to the rest of the world has led to a big scramble by tech firms and helped fuel sky-high valuations for investors’ favorite apps and gadgets,” writes Evelyn Rusli for the Wall Street Journal. Yet the pace of getting people connected is slowing. “The hurdles include low...

South Africa: Xenophobia in South Africa - a Lack of Visionary Leadership

Ozias Tungwarara April 17, 2015
Xenophobia thrives in South Africa as is the case with much of the world. Citizens, especially those experiencing hard times, blame less fortunate foreigners, often from neighboring states, for poverty, crowded conditions, and crime. “In 2000 a major scenario exercise: ‘Southern Africa in 2020’ painted a grim picture of the southern Africa region in two decades, suggesting that only a new...

Identity Politics, Corruption, Insecurity: Brave New World

John Githongo March 10, 2015
The phrase “identity politics” describes a range of political activity focused on shared experiences of injustice and marginalization, suggests the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. A global challenge emerges in addressing the activities, whether peaceful protests associated with the Arab Spring or the rise of vicious Islamic State and Nigerian Boko Haram extremists. Partisanship, neglect and...

Afro-Optimism: Has the Pendulum Swung Too Far?

Raila Odinga December 2, 2014
Development and economic growth in Africa offer great potential, yet poverty, conflict, preventable infectious disease and other challenges remain. Leaders cannot rest easy, warns Raila Odinga, former prime minister of Kenya in an article based on his remarks during the Annual Coca-Cola World Fund Lecture at Yale University, October 9, 2014. Odinga reviews Africa’s many accomplishments over the...

10 Insights From a Decade of Measuring the Gender Gap

Saadia Zahidi November 20, 2014
Fair wages motivate employees to work hard to produce and innovate. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index suggests that unequal pay for women represents a huge lost opportunity for many nations. The index tracks national differences and progress, reports Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum: Women are more educated than before though gaps linger for even primary education, and...

The Economics of Inclusion

Ricardo Hausmann November 17, 2014
Both inequality and slow economic growth result from a particular from of exclusion, argues Ricardo Hausmann, director of the Center for International Development at Harvard University, in an essay for Project Syndicate. Growth varies around the world and also within countries, and Hausmann points to fixed costs, especially those linked to infrastructure for water, transportation and electricity...

Debate Rages on Quantitative Easing’s Effect on Inequality

Chris Giles October 28, 2014
Since the global debt crisis of 2008, central banks in the US, Japan and the UK have embraced policies of quantitative easing, designed to expand currency supplies and keep interest rates low to encourage economic and job growth. But conservatives in the US and liberals in the UK claim the policies have led to rising income inequality for the advanced economies, reports Chris Giles for Financial...