Tag: economics

Two top trade experts with popular economics podcasts argue for a new way of operating between the biggest economic powers in the world. We used to take trade for granted. However, that is no longer the case. Everything we know about trade has changed. Trump's tariffs have disrupted long-established assumptions and thrown the global trading system into uncertainty.

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is an economic framework that proposes that countries that control their own currency can issue new currency to meet the needs deemed necessary by the government. Theorists argue that governments should issue currency to create jobs for the unemployed, to narrow the gap in wealth inequality.

The current pace and flux of geopolitics continue to disrupt markets, keeping investors worldwide on tenterhooks. The US/China relationship, in particular, is the most consequential bilateral relationship in the world. In a way, it is the axis around which other global events are turning.

According to the Facts and Figures 2023 report, just 37% of Africa’s population uses the internet, representing a digital divide for hundreds of millions of people. Only a tiny fraction of the continent’s people have access to a high-speed broadband connection at their homes.

If you pay attention to what is happening, you can learn some basic principles of economics. This makes sense, when you realise that economics...

“Supporting an unemployed person with a public works job far outweighs its cost” according to ex-deputy director-general of National Treasury, Andrew Donaldson. Experts with a deep understanding of economics, our country and its policy history, from Andrew Donaldson to Kate Philip, the lead on the Presidential Employment Stimulus, are calling for an expansion of socially and economically productive public works programmes.

Election season is coming up soon in South Africa, and those with governmental power have started promising jobs to the millions who are unemployed. Yet anyone who has an inkling of economic knowledge would know that the politicians are writing cheques with their mouths, and that they will be unable to cash their actions.

One of my privileges in life was to come to know and be friends with Dr. Nathaniel Branden (1930-2014), considered by many to be the father of the self-esteem movement.

Because of its illiberal and authoritarian policies the choice of Qatar for the World Cup created a lot of controversy. A repressive dictatorship itself, Qatari police had their hands full going after people from countries who actually believed they had a right to freedom of speech. 

During a long conversation with a friend while driving from shutting up a house in Italy for the winter and heading back to Germany, he asked what I thought about the economics of Christmas. One thing I always try to do is think of things people much smarter than I have said. To do that, I have to figure out the best way of approaching the topic.