The plastic recycling system is broken – here’s how we can fix it
The investor Warren Buffett once remarked that “only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked”. For the plastics recycling industry, the pandemic was a bit like the tide going out, exposing its deep-rooted structural problems. Specifically, COVID-19 exposed the plastics recycling sector’s vulnerability to oil-price changes. Economic shutdown driven by […]
how neoliberalism became an insult in Australian politics
The much-debated term “neoliberalism” again entered the political debate last week, with Greens leader Adam Bandt using a National Press Club speech to decry neoliberalism in the Labor Party. Bandt claimed that since the Keating and Hawke governments, Labor has adopted neoliberalism by “privatising public services, cutting taxes for the wealthy and adopting more austerity”. […]
Ghana’s informal mining harms health and the land – but reforms must work with people, not against them
Artisanal small-scale mining has been practised in Ghana for over a century. In 2018, small-scale miners generated 2.1 million ounces of gold, accounting for 43.1% of total gold production in the country. The sector employs 60% of Ghana’s mining workforce. But this production has come at a cost: water pollution, land degradation, the destruction of […]
Why some are rich, others are poor – and what it means for future prosperity
Why are some nations rich and others poor? Can the governments of poor nations do something to ensure that their nations become rich? These sorts of questions have long fascinated public officials and economists, at least since Adam Smith, the prominent Scottish economist whose famous 1776 book was titled “An Inquiry into the Nature and […]
5 major challenges facing the country’s next president
Nigerians will soon determine who their next president will be in a general election. Polling is due at the end of February and inauguration is scheduled for 29 May 2023. As Nigerians count down to election day, it’s worth considering the key challenges the country’s next president will deal with as he takes on his […]
Jiang Zemin propelled China’s economic rise in the world, leaving his successors to deal with the massive inequality that followed
By the summer of 1989, a series of problems were threatening China’s stability. Soaring inflation was undermining the economy at home while the violent suppression of Tiananmen Square demonstrations had left it largely a pariah state abroad. Yet within a few years the nation rebounded – beginning two decades of high economic growth, membership in […]
how the war in Sudan hurts its fragile neighbour
Since the 15 April outbreak of hostilities in Sudan, the civilian population has been bearing the brunt. The Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (called Hemeti), are in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s de facto head of state. Nearly 1.4 million people have been […]
What today’s labor leaders can learn from the explosive rise and quick fall of the typesetters union
Can a seemingly robust labor union simply collapse? The news is full of stories about growing union power – but just because a union is strong now doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way. Important unions have put themselves out of business before. The International Typographical Union, or ITU, is one such example. Once it was […]
6 ways Canadians can prepare for the upcoming recession
Although it certainly feels like it, and many people believe it, we are not in a recession yet. While a recession is defined as two successive quarters of negative GDP growth, it is essentially a period where economic growth falls significantly and unemployment rates rise. Given the lack of a precise definition, there is not […]
eNaira: Nigeria’s digital currency has had a slow start
Nigeria was the first country in Africa to roll out a central bank digital currency. The eNaira was launched in October 2021. The main reasons were to promote financial inclusion, increase cross-border transactions, facilitate diaspora remittances and complement existing payment systems. But adoption has been low so far. Less than 0.5% of Nigerians were using […]