Clare Short in The New Statesman writes in praise of the World Bank: One of the great problems in the field of development is that there are too many players. Each developed country has its own programmes in the poorest countries, and so do a large number of UN agencies Read more…
According to BBC news the government’s clamp-down on junk food in schools has led to a black market in the playground: Ring leaders are buying bars of chocolate and packets of crisps in bulk, and making small profits by surreptitiously selling on to sugar-craving classmates. Even if the school started Read more…
Alex Tabarook has written an open letter on immigration from the economics community:
Immigration is the greatest anti-poverty program ever devised. The American dream is a reality for many immigrants who not only increase their own living standards but who also send billions of dollars of their money back to their families in their home countries—a form of truly effective foreign aid.. America is a generous and open country and these qualities make America a beacon to the world. We should not let exaggerated fears dim that beacon.
Economists from any political background are invited to sign. I agree, of course, and have emailed to say so (though I am far less eminent than many of the economists who have already signed up.)
Personally, I would go further. My sympathies are with Chris Dillow, who argues for free immigration. He makes this interesting point:
I’m not saying here that immigrants should have rights to welfare benefits. They have a liberty right to live where they like, not a claim right upon our money (ta, Norm). I suspect most hostility to immigration is based upon the failure to see this distinction.
The BBC news reports that Nigeria’s Senate has thrown out a move to allow President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a third term in office next year – an issue which has divided the country. Under current Nigerian law, President Obasanjo is due to stand down in May 2007 at the Read more…
I’ve got a piece up on the CGD blog about a new evaluation of budget support, which finds that budget support helps to improve capacity for financial management and accountability in developing countries. I’ve been a long-time advocate of budget support, as I think it is a very important way Read more…
William Easterly and Jeff Sachs make a living by disagreeing with each other, though it seems that there is actually quite a bit of common ground. The Los Angeles Times has a head-to-head (free registration required). So far, Easterly is beating Sachs in the readers’ poll 2:1. Here are the Read more…
Tim Worstall’s roundup is here.
I wrote earlier this week about China’s growing role in Africa. Here are six further insights into the implications of China’s push into Africa. (more…)
This caught my eye in the Number 10 morning press briefing from 4 May 2006 Asked if the Prime Minister had sanctioned a peerage to Peter Law, the PMOS said that it was not only a party matter, but also, as people knew, the PMOS did not talk about the Read more…
According to this BBC report, the Government is to back down over the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, which would have given ministers the power to alter legislation without the approval of Parliament. If so this is perhaps the first scalp for UK bloggers, who I believe first identified the Read more…