Digital Archive....

Africa's statistical tragedy Africa Can... - End Poverty Fifteen years ago, Easterly and Levine published " Africa's Growth Tragedy ", highlighting the disappointing performance of Africa's growth, and the toll it has taken on the poor. Since then, growth has picked up, averaging 5-6 percent a year, and poverty is declining at about one percentage point a year. The "statistical tragedy" is that we cannot be sure this is true. Take economic growth, which is measured in terms of growth in GDP.  GDP in turn is measured by national accounts.  While there has been some progress, today, only 35 percent of Africa's population lives in countries that use the 1993 UN System of National Accounts; the others use earlier systems, some dating back to the 1960s.  To show that this is not an arcane point, consider the case of Ghana, which decided to update its GDP last year to the 1993 system.  When they did so, they found that their G...

Taxing the poor… through inflation Africa Can... - End Poverty Imagine you are spending half of your income on something whose price suddenly increases by a quarter. Seems impossible? This is how in fact inflation has hit the poor in many developing countries, especially Kenya. This September, overall inflation reached a record high of 17.3 percent . One year ago it was just above 3 percent. Why has it increased so sharply even though Kenya has followed prudent macro policies? The short answer is: food and fuel. In Kenya, food accounts for 36 percent of the average person's expenditures; energy and transport another 27 percent. The urban poor spend more than 43 percent on food. Since January, food prices have increased by almost 25 percent (see figure), partly as a result of international trends but also due to Kenya's- agriculture policies. Maize prices tripled between January and June until they retreated a little once the government waived import ...

Millennium Villages Project: does the 'big bang' approach work? | Madeleine Bunting Global development news, comment and analysis | guardian.co.uk Backers of the Millennium Villages Project say their model is successful, and can be replicated across Africa. But critics of their development strategy beg to differ Jeffrey Sachs is Marmite. Some love him, while others grumble about his high-handedness. But what no one can deny is his extraordinary energy and drive and how he makes things happen. He announced this week at the UN a second and final stage of the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) with another $72m. Not only has George Soros committed his Open Society Foundation to another huge tranche of cash, $47.4m, but Sachs managed to secure the presence of the man himself on the platform with him, along with the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. Sachs is one of the few people who can pull connections across business, politics, global diplomacy and c...

Open conversations (or close them) Seth's Blog A guy walks into a shop that sells ties. He's opened the conversation by walking in. Salesman says, "can I help you?" The conversation is now closed. The prospect can politely say, "no thanks, just looking." Consider the alternative: "That's a [insert adjective here] tie you're wearing, sir. Where did you buy it?" Conversation is now open. Attention has been paid, a rapport can be built. They can talk about ties. And good taste. Or consider a patron at a fancy restaurant. He was served an old piece of fish, something hardly worth the place's reputation. On the way out, he says to the chef, "It must be hard to get great fish on Mondays. I'm afraid the filet I was served had turned." If the chef says, "I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your meal..." then the conversation is over. The patron has been rebuffed, the feedback considered me...

The forever recession (and the coming revolution) Seth's Blog There are actually two recessions: The first is the cyclical one, the one that inevitably comes and then inevitably goes. There's plenty of evidence that intervention can shorten it, and also indications that overdoing a response to it is a waste or even harmful. The other recession, though, the one with the loss of "good factory jobs" and systemic unemployment--I fear that this recession is here forever. Why do we believe that jobs where we are paid really good money to do work that can be systemized, written in a manual and/or exported are going to come back ever ? The internet has squeezed inefficiencies out of many systems, and the ability to move work around, coordinate activity and digitize data all combine to eliminate a wide swath of the jobs the industrial age created. There's a race to the bottom, one where communities fight to suspend labor and environmental ru...

Q&A on coltan Texas in Africa One of the most fascinating books I read this year is about one mineral: Coltan . Authored by Congo expert Michael Nest, the book is a comprehensive discussion of an extrodinarily complex issue. Nest does an admirable job of explaining what the commodity is, why it matters, and of dissecting the debates around coltan. The book is a must-read for anyone interested in conflict minerals or advocacy in general as it points to both successes and failures in the DRC-focused movement. Nest was kind enough to take the time for a Q&A about Coltan : TiA: What was the most surprising thing you learned in researching Coltan ? Nest : The enormous gulf in communication and understanding between activists and industry. Industry pays little attention to what activists say and are not very aware of academic debates about natural resources and conflict. Yet activists and these debates have an impact of the legislation and regulation...