Showing 1 - 10 of 41
It's the economic history, stupid
Oped, Iker Saitua, Published on 14/01/2026
» Every year, I walk into a first-year lecture hall in Bilbao at the University of the Basque Country (EHU) and watch shoulders slump. The title of the course I'm teaching -- "Economic History" -- draws a similarly dejected reaction from my students: "Meh." "Boooring." "What's this even for?" Some call it "the history class", as if it belonged to another century.
Resetting Thailand-Cambodia relations
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 21/10/2025
» After three months of catastrophic relations, Thailand and Cambodia are starting to turn confrontation into cooperation, but such efforts will be obstructed by on-the-ground realities and invisible barriers.
New words I probably won't be using
Roger Crutchley, Published on 31/08/2025
» The Cambridge Dictionary recently announced the inclusion of 6,000 new words mainly derived from their common usage in social media. I fear those words will simply be added to an already lengthy list of vocabulary I am totally unfamiliar with. As one observer noted "internet culture is changing the English language."
Gambling on Singapore's model
Oped, Kevin Clayton, Published on 26/06/2025
» Hindsight can help define the future. In 2005, Singapore was coming to terms with a need to reinvent itself as a tourism attraction in the face of plummeting arrival numbers and increasing regional competition. This was no time to feel intimidated but to strike out and be inventive.
Getting sustainable debt right
News, Kevin P. Gallagher & José Antonio Ocampo & Kunal Sen, Published on 19/05/2025
» A slowing global economy, rising trade tensions, and increased risks of recession could mean a perfect storm for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) burdened by high sovereign debt. Faced with exorbitant borrowing costs and an increasingly jittery international environment, these countries' potential for economic growth and development will be severely curtailed.
Watch your step these stormy nights
Roger Crutchley, Published on 18/05/2025
» The rainstorms during the past week have been really refreshing. They've cooled things down a bit which is quite a relief after perspiring my way through April. I also appreciate the accompanying rolling thunder which provides a stirring theatrical soundtrack for the rain sloshing down. It's just another reminder of how powerful Mother Nature can be.
School meal programmes give food for thought
News, Gordon Brown & Kevin Watkins, Published on 23/01/2025
» When governments adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, they pledged to eliminate hunger and poverty. But today, as the SDGs' 2030 deadline approaches, a gulf separates their initial ambition and the reality on the ground. The 2020s are shaping up to be a lost decade for development -- and the world's most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of this slowdown.
Are all of us ready for AI creative destruction?
Oped, Daron Acemoglu, Published on 24/04/2024
» The ancient Chinese concept of yin and yang attests to humans' tendency to see patterns of interlocked opposites in the world around us, a predilection that has lent itself to various theories of natural cycles in social and economic phenomena. Just as the great medieval Arab philosopher Ibn Khaldun saw the path of an empire's eventual collapse imprinted in its ascent, the twentieth-century economist Nikolai Kondratiev postulated that the modern global economy moves in "long wave" super-cycles.
The AI assembly line ends with the tech giants
News, Parmy Olson, Published on 22/03/2024
» It's almost impossible for an artificial intelligence startup to build anything as good as ChatGPT, but Inflection was getting there.
Priorities, please
Oped, Postbag, Published on 21/03/2024
» Re: "Disaster zone label 'will hurt tourism' ", (BP, March 19).