Posts Tagged ‘climate

This is my latest book review for the Financial Times. It is hard to imagine how the rapid development of many poorer economies in recent decades could have happened without the emergence of super-rich individuals. No doubt for most Financial Times readers the two go together. The rise of popular prosperity depends on the vibrancy of […]

How a different America responded to the Great Depression, Pew Research Center, by Jodie T Allen. Opinion poll evidence suggests Americans were more optimistic in the late 1930s than they are now. A Czar is born, Claremont Review of Books, Joseph Postell. A review of books by Cass Sunstein including Nudge. Matt Ridley on technology, […]

What resource curse?, Foreign Policy, by Charles Kenny. A development economist argues against the idea that the discovery of resource wealth is a “curse” for the country involved. New mission for US military: break its dependence on oil, Yale Environment 360, by Louis Peck. The American military is investigating ways to conserve energy and develop […]

Africa needs growth, not pity and big plans, Wall Street Journal, by Matt Ridley. Africa needs aid, not flawed theories, Wall Street Journal, by Bill Gates. Ridley and Gates debate the problems of Africa and climate change. Beyond ‘dangerous’ climate change: emission scenarios for a new world, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, by […]

Some useful recent reports – all to be taken critically. From austerity to prosperity: Seven priorities for the long term. McKinsey. New times, new connections: civil society action on climate change, Green Alliance, by Faye Scott. The State of African Cities 2010: Governance, Inequalities and Urban Land Markets, UN-Habitat. World Energy Outlook 2010. International Energy […]

Avoid US route: Indian minister says American way is ‘recipe for disaster’, the Guardian, by Jason Burke. Jairam Ramesh, the Indian environment minister, tells the British newspaper that Indians should not aim for an American lifestyle. How to live with climate change (subscription may be required), the Economist.  The Economist argues that the best protection […]

Some helpful advice to those at the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy (Casse) who have just published a report called Enough is Enough: Ideas for a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources. Why go to all the effort of organising a conference in Leeds and publishing a 132 page […]

Ireland still has the power to make itself a country worth living in, the Observer, by Fintan O’Toole. The assistant editor of the Irish Times argues the Ireland should embrace “ethical austerity”. I suspect that will be even more painful than regular austerity. Government ‘planning to measure people’s happiness‘, BBC. For a critique of this […]

No “articles of note” for a while and then two come along at once: Population bomb still a fizzer 40 years on, the Australian, by Oliver Marc Hartwich. A critique of environmentalism’s worship of nature. Fair trade does not help the poor, report says, Daily Telegraph, by Harry Wallop. Discusses a report from the Institute […]

Note: Most of this week’s articles are not freely available in full on the internet. How the Observer brought the WWF into being, Observer, by Kate Kellaway. Article to market the 50th anniversary of the world’s largest non-governmental conservation charity. Includes links to the original Observer articles from 1960. Geoengineering: lift-off, Economist. Discussion of high […]