Archive for category Development
Peter Neal (UNSW) on Carbon Capture and Storage
Posted by sangus in Development, Interview, Podcast on 28 May, 2009
Dr Peter Neal is a research associate at the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (otherwise known as the CO2 CRC), and is located in the School of Petroleum Engineering at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. As part of this group, Dr Neal works on modelling the economics of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies. In this interview, Dr Neal describes how CCS works, where the technique is being applied current, and what the important economic factors in its use will be. Towards the end of the interview Dr Neal looks ahead to where CCS will be utilised in both the developed and the developing nations of the world.
Matt Chamberlain (CSIRO) on Ocean Modelling and Climate Change
Posted by sangus in Development, Interview, Podcast on 26 May, 2009
Listen to CSIRO research scientist Dr Matt Chamberlain — he gives an excellent description of how oceans and the climate interact, and how modern scientific methods are used to try and understand this interaction. Matt’s background is in geology and geophysics and he has worked both in the wilds of Antarctica, and in the deserts of America for the University of Arizona and then the Planetary Science Institute. His work focusses on bio-geochemical interactions in the ocean, these are important to understand since the ocean is understood to play a very big role in the carbon cycle, and hence, changes to both the atmosphere above the ocean, and the currents and temperatures in the oceans themselves may have large implications for the way that these cycles operate.
Cobus de Swardt on Transparency International and the fight against Corruption
Posted by sangus in Development, Interview, Podcast on 20 May, 2009
Cobus de Swardt is the Managing Director of Transparency International (TI) which is well known for producing the annual Corruption Perceptions Index which ranks 180 countries on a scale of 0 to 10 for their level of perceived corruption. As Cobus emphasises in the interview, this is only one part of the work of TI, the main impact of TI is in its many country-based ‘chapters’: small, grass-roots TI organisations which work for greater transparency and accountability in their host countries.
Africa has to find its own road to prosperity (FT opinion)
Posted by sangus in Development, Growth, Poverty on 11 May, 2009
(Thanks to Ben Hirons) With respect of Dambisa Moyo’s thoughts on Dead Aid here is another President of an African nation, this time, Paul Kagame of Rwanda making a case for leading Africa out of poverty by innovation rather than systemic ‘plans’, or ’strategies’. As Kagame says, Rwanda faces enormous challenges, both geographically, politically, historically, and in terms of education and health, and yet, the optimism he displays is both courageous and determined.
Read his comments here:
FT.com / Comment / Opinion - Africa has to find its own road to prosperity.
Note: Kagame’s target of a four-fold increase in per-capita incomes in ‘a generation’ (or around 20 years), requires a GDP/cap growth rate of 7%. Considering that Rwanda has a projected population growth rate of just under 3%, this will require a GDP growth rate of 10%. And there, if ever, is the African challenge.
Dambisa Moyo discusses Dead Aid on Norwegian TV
Posted by sangus in Development, Poverty on 4 May, 2009
Once again, a video on Dambisa Moyo’s Dead Aid perspective. Significantly, here, she begins by outlining her ideas with the TV presenter, and then is able to debate them with a member of the Norwegian Parliament who clearly sees eye to eye with Moyo on some of her criticisms of foreign aid, but doesn’t appear willing to turn off the tap immediately.
Jakob Madsen on Models of Economic Growth
Jakob Madsen, Professor of Economics at Monash University has spent many years in Macro-economic research. He has a particular interest in long-run growth, the models that have been used to explain it, and the data that aims to test these models. In his recent work, he is examining so-called ’second-generation’ endogenous growth models, such as the Schumpeterian growth model. In this interview, Professor Madsen talks about some of his recent work on economic growth and how this bears on economic policy for development in the world’s poorest regions.
Greg Clark on Social Darwinianism and the Industrial Revolution
Posted by sangus in Development, Growth, Interview, Podcast on 30 April, 2009
Greg Clark, Professor of Economics at University of California, Davis and author of A Farewell to Alms was recently in Australia to present a seminar on his controversial theory of Social Darwinianism to explain the industrial revolution in England. Prof. Davis, was kind enough to speak to EconomicsNow! about this work, the Malthusian Trap and why doing Economic History is well worth the effort!
Lessons from the GFC for the GEC
Posted by sangus in Development, Podcast on 7 April, 2009
I was recently prompted by James O’Loghlin (host of Sunday’s with James O’Loghlin program on ABC Local radio, Sydney) to think about solutions to both the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) and the GEC (Global Environment Crisis). What he was after, was a discussion of solutions that would solve both problems at the same time .. the old, ‘two birds with one stone’ approach. On the surface of things, this sounds like an impossible task: when one thinks about the hardship that is still building in world economies due to rising unemployment, shouldn’t we be thinking only of fixing up the economy? Shouldn’t we wait until ‘better times’ return for us to then worry about the environment. I mean — the dangers of climate change and its associated dooms-day predictions are important, but surely not that important to rank them above the pressing troubles of the now?
Whilst I’ll write some more on the solutions side of things later, my first thought was not actually ’solutions’ as such, but to do with lessons that we can take from the one to the other.
Terrorism in Pakistan: is this a development issue?
Posted by sangus in Development, Podcast, Poverty on 24 March, 2009
The recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan against the Sri Lankan cricket team bring back awful memories of the Mumbai bombings, in which it now appears beyond doubt, Pakistani operatives were also at work. The key question, however, is are there reasons why Pakistan in particular, and other poor countries in general, seem to either be the source, or target, of terrorist activities?
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Is Aid Killing Africa? - Foreign Correspondent - ABC
Posted by sangus in Development, Interview, Poverty on 24 March, 2009
Watch online
This Foreign Correspondent report brings the work of Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian-born economist who thinks that western Aid is creating long-term dependencies on outside help, stifling internal economic activity and achieving very little of what the aid organisations set out to do.
Via: UK - Is Aid Killing Africa? - Foreign Correspondent - ABC.