Good article from the Economist on the impact of compulsory biofuel regulations on food prices. We commented on this a while back. Biofuel regulations are an undeniable “structural shock” which will lead to “structurally higher” food prices. What do I mean? The price of food relative to other things is likely to stay higher than …
Category Archive: Development economics
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2011/03/02/biofuels-and-food/
Jun
15
2009
Aid vs development
Lant Pritchett comes out strongly in favour of aid agencies that promote economic development on Aid Watch: There are many ways of providing assistance to people in poor countries that do little or nothing to produce development. While we might all whole-heartedly agree that de-worming is demonstrated to be cost-effective assistance, its impact on development …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2009/06/15/aid-vs-development/
Jun
12
2009
Swine flu pandemic
The WHO has now declared the swine flu a global pandemic. There are 27,737 cases confirmed worldwide and the number is growing fast. However, only 141 deaths are confirmed, which gives the swine flu a mortality rate of 0.5%. Compared with the Spanish flu which killed about 10% of those infected it might be seen …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2009/06/12/swine-flu-pandemic/
Jun
12
2009
What good is a right to life?
William Easterly has a strong series of posts on his blog arguing that a dialogue in terms of rights doesn’t help the poor: The only useful definition of human rights is one where a human rights crusader could identify WHOSE rights are being violated and WHO is the violator. … Poverty does not fit this …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2009/06/12/what-good-is-a-right-to-life/
Feb
13
2009
Kiva: Individual microlending
When looking at Questionable Content (it is a webcomic – I’m addicted to watching the guy develop his drawing style!) I saw a link for a site named Kiva. To explain what this is I will leave it up to the Kiva about page. Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2009/02/13/kiva-individual-microlending/
Sep
18
2007
Slavery and growth
Many writers have noted that colonisation contribute to the sad state of many African economies today. Now Nathan Nunn claims that the slave trade may also have had a long-term impact on economies. The author …find[s] a robust negative relationship between the number of slaves exported from a country and current economic performance. To better …
Permanent link to this article: http://www.tvhe.co.nz/2007/09/18/slavery-and-growth/
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