Women are promoted less than men because they are deemed to have less leadership potential than men. These are the findings of a study published in 2022 by professors Alan Benson of the University of Minnesota, Danielle Li of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Kelly Shue […]
a lesson in mobile money tax design
In May 2022, the government in Ghana introduced a deeply unpopular tax on mobile money transactions, known as the e-levy. When it was introduced, the levy was structured as a 1.5% charge on all electronic and mobile money transactions over 100 cedis per day. The e-levy was designed to raise more money for the government […]
Canada’s housing crisis needs answers — but first we need to ask the right questions
The struggle to match housing costs to incomes affects everyone in Canada. It impacts not only people who struggle to afford a place to live, but health care, education, the economy and quality of life in general. Housing is a critical piece of our social infrastructure. It is literally the platform on which most other […]
Airport towns like Luton and Hounslow are suffering as people fly less often – here’s how to help them
Tens of thousands of aircraft have been grounded for well over a year due to the pandemic. In April 2020 air travel around the world was cut by 94% from April 2019. By June 2021 it was still 60% down on June 2019 thanks to holidays being cancelled, work trips shelved, and long-planned journeys to […]
five things African leaders must achieve
The second Russia-Africa Summit takes place in St Petersburg on 27-28 July. This comes at a time of a major geopolitical shift, which African leaders may see as offering beneficial opportunities. The previous summit, in 2019, led to the signing of 92 agreements, contracts and memoranda of understanding worth over $11 billion. Several African countries […]
How to fix the pensions triple lock but still protect pensioners from high inflation
Plans to increase state pension payments in line with inflation have been reinstated by the UK government and are supported by both of the contenders for the Conservative party leadership. But even if inflation was not always at the 40-year high we are currently seeing, a more sustainable way of calculating pensioners’ state income is […]
Economists have misunderstood a key indicator – and it’s a big problem
In studies, forecasts and recommendations to governments, markets are seen as capable of processing so-called rational information. Economists claim that firms’ market prices result from rational expectation about their future monetary flows and intangible assets not accounted by bookkeeping, which, however, would enable those future monetary flows to occur. It is quite difficult to find […]
War in Ukraine might give the Chinese yuan the boost it needs to become a major global currency — and be a serious contender against the US dollar
The Chinese economy’s sheer size and rapid growth are impressive. China maintained one of the highest economic growth rates in the world for more than a quarter of a century, helping lift over 800 million people out of poverty in just a few decades. The country is the largest exporter in the world and the […]
Jobs are up! Wages are up! So why am I as an economist so gloomy?
In any other time, the jobs news that came down on Dec. 2, 2022, would be reason for cheer. The U.S. added 263,000 nonfarm jobs in November, leaving the unemployment rate at a low 3.7%. Moreover, wages are up – with average hourly pay jumping 5.1% compared with a year earlier. So why am I […]
winners, losers and ways forward
Lecturers in Nigerian public universities have embarked on strikes 16 times since 1999. Cumulatively, the public universities have lost about 50 months of their academic calendar to these actions in the last 23 years. The reasons for the strikes generally relate to funding and salary issues. Nigeria has 217 licensed universities. The federal government runs […]