Alexander Pushkin, the great Russian poet was born in 1799, 23 years after the great British economist Adam Smith published his The Wealth of Nations and 9 years after the latter’s death. So, wha
Long-run economic trends: Secular decline in terms of trade?
Introduction In the absence of the definite answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything (not counting the number 42 from Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Ga
United Nations Cost Minimization Problem
Professor Branko Milanovic has recently published an essay called Does the United Nations still exist? In this emotional piece, Milanovic accuses the United Nations of failing in its role of a coll
Alternative Development Models: Have they been given a fair chance in Africa?
(Africa’s Long Road Since Independence by Keith Somerville) The book by Keith Somerville Africa’s Long Road Since Independence has a subtitle “The Many Histories of a Continent”. This subti
7 myths about oil projects and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
Recently and quite unexpectedly to myself, I got sucked into a discussion about the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The $5 billion pipeline is primed to transport oil from the Hoima oilfie
Can You Live (Happily Forever) off Foreign Capital?
The controversial case of Rio Tinto and politics in Serbia Arguments, pro et contra This is a small contribution to the ongoing discussion about the role of foreign direct investments (FDIs) and th
COVID-19 and Inequality in the Developing World: What Do We Know?
We have lived with COVID-19 for almost two years. It has affected economies all around the world, particularly in the developing world. Yet, developing economies, while experiencing an economic con
Degrowth: Delinking GDP, output and value
This is my contribution to the ongoing polemic between the proponents of degrowth and those who believe that degrowthers are engaged in mystical thinking ignoring the hard economic reality and the
Great Disappointment (Neoliberalist capture in the time of COVID-19)
Originally, the Great Disappointment refers to the false prophesy of William Miller about Christ’s Second Coming in 1844. This, as we know, didn’t happen, leaving his followers bewildered and d
Serbia’s accession to where?
Today’s post is a preview of my chapter in a forthcoming book on Public Administration in Conflict Affected Countries under the editorship of two eminent colleagues, Prof. Purshottama Sivanar