Articles of note – economics

These articles focus on economics and development. More on science and the environment tomorrow.

Live Aid 25 years on – time to change the record, spiked, by Nathalie Rothschild.  An argument against celebrity-based campaigns which start from the premise that Africans should be viewed as pathetic victims.

Multi-dimensional Poverty Index. The Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative and the United Nations Development Programme have joined forces to devise a new poverty index focused on three dimensions: health, education and standard of living. Rather than devise ever more elaborate indices it would be better if more effort were spent trying to turn poor societies into rich ones.

How inequality fuelled the crisis, Project Syndicate, by Raghuram Rajan. A former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund argues that American inequality – itself largely the result of technological progress – helped fuel the economic crisis. Politicians responded to this inequality by encouraging the expansion of easy credit and so helped create a financial bubble. Rajan’s solution – which is not spelled out – is to give more Americans the opportunity to compete in the global marketplace.

Mind the gap, Boston Review, by Claude S Fischer. A critical review of Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s The Spirit Level.

On how to increase economic growth, Adam Smith Institute blog, by Tim Worstall. A prominent Conservative blogger discusses how to boost economic growth. At least he is asking the right question even though I think the answer is less straightforward than he suggests.

Where is the anti-capitalist ideology? Guardian – comment is free, by Antony Lerman. Fails to understand that Romantic anti-capitalism has become thoroughly mainstream in elite circles.