February 12, 2023
South Sudan: South Sudan's Oil and Water Give It Bargaining Power - but Will It Benefit the People?
South Sudan has long been one of east Africa's most unstable states. But surging external interest in its resources and the diplomatic agility of its rulers are again underlining… Read more »
February 08, 2023
South Africa: Few of South Africa's Chartered Accountants Are Black - Hearing Their Stories Suggests What to Fix
Chartered accountants can be found in the upper echelons of organisations all over the world as CEOs, directors and senior managers. They are often responsible for an entity's… Read more »
Kenya: Kenya's President Wants Taxes to Replace Foreign Debt - Seven Ways to Get There
In the run-up to Kenya's 2022 polls, economic issues, particularly public debt and joblessness, took centre stage. The Kenya Kwanza team led by William Ruto suggested that Kenya… Read more »
February 06, 2023
Africa: China's Demand for Africa's Donkeys Is Rising. Why It's Time to Control the Trade
In recent years, there's been a huge, rising demand for donkey hides in China, where they are used to make an ancient health-related product called ejiao. Ejiao is made from… Read more »
February 03, 2023
Africa: Nipple Ban On Instagram and Facebook Reveals How Bizarre Our Attitude Is Towards Different Genders
Some women consign themselves to breastfeeding in public toilets to prevent their apparently sexually explosive nipples causing offence. On hot days, meanwhile, males of all ages,… Read more »
February 01, 2023
Africa: City Planners Are Questioning the Point of Parking Garages
For the past century, the public and private sector appear to have agreed on one thing: the more parking, the better. Read more »
February 02, 2023
Africa: ChatGPT Is Great - You're Just Using It Wrong
It doesn't take much to get ChatGPT to make a factual mistake. My son is doing a report on U.S. presidents, so I figured I'd help him out by looking up a few biographies. I tried… Read more »
February 03, 2023
South Africa: South African Tourism Wants to Sponsor Football Club Tottenham Hotspur - Is It a Good Idea?
South African Tourism (SA Tourism) is reported to be planning to spend US$52 million (about R900 million) to sponsor UK football team Tottenham Hotspur over three years. The… Read more »
February 04, 2023
South Africa: Robberies Surge As Criminals Take Advantage of Power Outages
The acute energy crisis in South Africa has adversely affected all aspects of the society. Regular and lengthy power outages - which started in 2007 are also contributing to an… Read more »
February 02, 2023
South Africa: Remote Working Improves the Lives of Women Managers - But At a Cost
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a question that would have been unthinkable a few years ago: do we really need to be in the office all the time? Read more »
February 01, 2023
Zambia: Direct Support to Small Scale Farmers Reduces Poverty - What Zambia Is Doing Right
Over half of Zambia's population lived below the national poverty line in 2015. In rural areas, where 89% of households are engaged in agriculture, the poverty rate was even… Read more »
January 26, 2023
Africa: ChatGPT - Our Study Shows AI Can Produce Academic Papers Good Enough for Journals - Just As Some Ban It
Some of the world's biggest academic journal publishers have banned or curbed their authors from using the advanced chatbot, ChatGPT. Because the bot uses information from the… Read more »
January 30, 2023
Africa: Inequality in Access to Basic Services Is a Major Problem in Sub-Saharan Africa - but Progress Is Being Made
Economic activity and development are unevenly distributed across regions of the world and within any country. In other words, where someone lives can determine their economic and… Read more »
Uganda: Kampala, Kigali and Addis Ababa Are Changing Fast - New Book Follows Their Distinct Paths
Kampala, the Ugandan capital where I live, is naturally the city I have studied and worked on the most as an urban economist. Yet even with this background, reading Tom… Read more »
January 27, 2023
Somalia: Somaliland's Oil Find Could Reset the Regional Balance - Here's How
The presence of oil in Somaliland has been confirmed by a recent exploration. The discovery has raised the stakes in Somaliland's claim for independence from Somalia as it holds… Read more »
January 26, 2023
South Africa: Vaccine Hesitancy - Covid Experience Highlights Conspiracies, Mistrust and Role of Media
In recent weeks, China has reported a spike in new cases of COVID and related deaths. Some countries have imposed travel restrictions as a result. But most - including South Africa… Read more »
January 25, 2023
Africa: Free Online Courses Could Be a Path to Higher Education in African Countries but Awareness Is Low
Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the largest regions in the world and has the lowest rates of participation in higher education anywhere in the world. The World Bank reported in 2020… Read more »
Ghana: Domestic Debt Restructuring Has Stalled - Four Reasons Why
Ghana is facing multiple financial and economic challenges and has requested a US$3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help it restore macroeconomic… Read more »
January 24, 2023
Africa: Directors Need Limits to How Many Boards They Sit On. Stretching Their Time Too Thinly Is Risky
Experienced directors of companies are in high demand in countries around the world. For this reason, many hold multiple directorships. Read more »
January 23, 2023
South Africa: Power Cuts Play Havoc With the Country's Water System
South Africans had to deal with the worst ever series of power cuts in 2022. All in all the country lost a record 205 days of electricity due to constant breakdowns at the… Read more »
January 12, 2023
Africa: ChatGPT, Dall-E 2 and the Collapse of the Creative Process
In 2022, OpenAI - one of the world's leading artificial intelligence research laboratories - released the text generator ChatGPT and the image generator DALL-E 2. While both… Read more »
January 23, 2023
Zambia: Copper Transformed Way the World Works Before - It's About to Do So Again
Copper is all around us. The metal is both ever-present and invisible in our world. Copper makes reading the words on this screen possible. And the global spread of artificial… Read more »
January 20, 2023
South Africa: Power Cuts in South Africa - Trend to Get Off the Grid Is Gathering Pace, but Total Independence Is Still a Way Off
South Africans have been battered by power shortages for several years. These have worsened to the point that towards the end of 2022 the country's electricity utility, Eskom, had… Read more »
January 19, 2023
Africa: How the Fifa20 Video Game Reproduces the Racial Stereotypes Embedded Within Football
EA Sports' Fifa football videogame series is arguably the most successful sports gaming franchise of all time. Since its debut in 1993, it has sold over 260 million copies across… Read more »
Africa: Installing Solar-Powered Refrigerators in Developing Countries Can Reduce Hunger and Slow Climate Change
Food loss and waste are major problems around the world. When food is tossed aside or allowed to spoil, it makes economies less productive and leaves people hungry. Read more »