One of my favourite economists has eventually won a Nobel prize, with Simon Johnson and James Robinson. Daron Acemoglu’s work has shaped my outlook on development perhaps more than any other thinker. Their prize comes 23 years after the authors’ epic paper “The...
Clean audits are a necessary but insufficient condition for achieving governance performance. But there is more to the story than that. It is highly unlikely that audited entities will deliver value for their shareholders in the long run unless their finances are...
A July TED talk by Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, had already reached 648 293 views at the time of writing. It is not a good-news talk. Essentially, the scientific assessment is that the average ocean temperature is...
Five iconic elephant bulls have been slaughtered by trophy hunters in Tanzania in the last eight months, at least two of which were “super-tuskers”. An unofficial agreement between Kenya and Tanzania had protected these elephants for 30 years. A new Avaaz petition...
A growing axis of authoritarianism across the world threatens the democracies that remain, of which there are only a handful (24) that The Economist Intelligence Unit classifies as “full democracies”. In its 2023 index of democratic health — Age of Conflict — South...
A view that appears to be gaining traction in some policy circles is that African countries need a benevolent dictator. The argument runs along the lines of suggesting that we’re not quite ready for democracy: Due to democracy’s apparent inability to produce economic...
Southern African nations are at it again. Nyasha Chingono reported in late May that those “hosting the largest elephant populations in the world made a fresh pitch…to be allowed to sell their $1bn ivory stockpiles”, purportedly to allocate it towards conservation. How...
If you’ve had a conversation with anyone recently returned from the Kruger National Park (KNP), you’re likely to hear: “It was lekker, but there are too many elephants! The damage to the trees is crazy.” The idea is often linked to thinking that suggests we should...
The South African Government’s Reviewed National Biodiversity Economy Strategy (2024) continues to promote trophy hunting as a conservation tool. This policy briefing challenges this approach, arguing that trophy hunting, particularly of endangered species, should be...
Late last year, a colleague and I published a peer-reviewed journal article trying to identify whether southern Africa was afflicted by “premature deindustrialisation”. Harvard economist Dani Rodrik (2016) identified this pattern of manufacturing decline in developing...
One of my favourite economists has eventually won a Nobel prize, with Simon Johnson and James Robinson. Daron Acemoglu’s work has shaped my outlook on development perhaps more than any other thinker. Their prize comes 23 years after the authors’ epic paper “The...
Clean audits are a necessary but insufficient condition for achieving governance performance. But there is more to the story than that. It is highly unlikely that audited entities will deliver value for their shareholders in the long run unless their finances are...
A July TED talk by Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, had already reached 648 293 views at the time of writing. It is not a good-news talk. Essentially, the scientific assessment is that the average ocean temperature is...
Five iconic elephant bulls have been slaughtered by trophy hunters in Tanzania in the last eight months, at least two of which were “super-tuskers”. An unofficial agreement between Kenya and Tanzania had protected these elephants for 30 years. A new Avaaz petition...
A growing axis of authoritarianism across the world threatens the democracies that remain, of which there are only a handful (24) that The Economist Intelligence Unit classifies as “full democracies”. In its 2023 index of democratic health — Age of Conflict — South...
A view that appears to be gaining traction in some policy circles is that African countries need a benevolent dictator. The argument runs along the lines of suggesting that we’re not quite ready for democracy: Due to democracy’s apparent inability to produce economic...
Southern African nations are at it again. Nyasha Chingono reported in late May that those “hosting the largest elephant populations in the world made a fresh pitch…to be allowed to sell their $1bn ivory stockpiles”, purportedly to allocate it towards conservation. How...
If you’ve had a conversation with anyone recently returned from the Kruger National Park (KNP), you’re likely to hear: “It was lekker, but there are too many elephants! The damage to the trees is crazy.” The idea is often linked to thinking that suggests we should...
The South African Government’s Reviewed National Biodiversity Economy Strategy (2024) continues to promote trophy hunting as a conservation tool. This policy briefing challenges this approach, arguing that trophy hunting, particularly of endangered species, should be...
Late last year, a colleague and I published a peer-reviewed journal article trying to identify whether southern Africa was afflicted by “premature deindustrialisation”. Harvard economist Dani Rodrik (2016) identified this pattern of manufacturing decline in developing...