whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

1. The charity of dumping
(Analysis/Analysis)

...them down flat. The reason was that there was no infrastructure servicing the land at all; no irrigation, no electricity, no roads. Without which his yields would be lower, and it would be astonish...

2. Higher food prices are good for the poor
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ut, or allowing high prices to cause shock and horror? We already tried keeping prices artificially low with electricity. What happened is that we ran out and then had to ration supplies to make su...

3. The tragedy of Burma, should we help, how to help
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ast that would normally have absorbed massive tides and flooding have all been demolished. Poverty, a lack of electricity for heating and cooking, and direct military intervention, have all resulted ...

4. No way out; ducking the Eskom bullet
(Analysis/Analysis)

...hey can raise the prices on their existing products to cover the cost. Eskom would like to raise the price of electricity to cover their expansion. Normally, in a competitive environment, one compan...

5. Taxing the Future, Confusing the Present
(Analysis/Analysis)

...illion South Africans pay tax. To support the other 40 million who require social grants, housing, subsidised electricity and water, education, healthcare and so on. As Winston Churchill said, &quot...

6. Overcoming the Conservation of Energy
(Analysis/Analysis)

...t is visible throughout the South African economy; most obviously in public schools, public health, and public electricity. Mining companies have announced major retrenchments. They are the inevitabl...

7. When no-one is held accountable, everyone suffers
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ailure of the South African government to hold the health ministry to account sees millions dieing from AIDS. Electricity, and its ails, have been discussed to death; but consider the knock-on impact...

8. Netscape, the Internet and Creative Destruction
(Analysis/Analysis)

... governments decide are essential and that they feel are too important to be left to the private sector. Like electricity, for instance. But it was private endeavour that created power generation in...

9. Electricity Redux - Electricity Quotas Will Work About As Well As Race Quotas
(Analysis/Analysis)

In 1998 the US state of California partially deregulated electricity production and sales. The "partially" bit is where things came ungummed. The private companies that purchased the righ

10. Higher food prices mean downgrading that Turkey to a Chicken
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ctly at the poor through food vouchers. These, too, have their consequences. The subsidised "free" electricity given to all is another reason that energy demand has outstripped supply. Th...

11. This festive season: the accumulating effects of individual activity
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ot;handmade" over "factory-made". Purely logically, that doesn't hold. The peak times for electricity consumption happens to be 18h00 to 21h00 ... AFTER people come back from work...

12. Africa, China and Investment
(Analysis/Analysis)

...infrastructure behind. A mining company investing in Cameroon also has to build railroads and deepwater ports, electricity generators, fresh water pipelines, and import engineering skill before their ...

13. Do you hate the poor enough to be charitable?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ter, when the cold presses in, shack dwellers cluster closer around paraffin stoves to keep warm. There is no electricity. Common toilets are outside. Shacks lean up against each other. Accidents....

14. Nigeria, or the idiots guide to stealing an election
(Analysis/Analysis)

...he people didn't want him to go, because he'd done a good job. The real test will be whether there is electricity for more than four hours a day, whether there is sanitation, or running water...

15. One Laptop Per Child, now costing 75% more ...
(Analysis/Analysis)

...las Negroponte, stumped for an answer on the ultimate purpose of the computer, declared, "... there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the ho...

16. Cricket, corruption and the match-fixing that leads to murder
(Analysis/Analysis)

...sses are treated in similar fashion, similar corruption, misrule and incompetence prevails.  There is one electricity provider in South Africa, the state-protected Eskom. With no real competition...

17. Aggregation and collaboration: a guide to making money and doing good in poor nations
(Analysis/Analysis)

...are excelling. Vive Crone, of Spescom, speaks with affection about the engineering breakthroughs in providing electricity to the poorest.  He developed an electronic box, with a digital keypad, ...

18. May I have the bill, please? A lesson in wilful ignorance ...
(Analysis/Analysis)

...onomic landscape of winners. And, when they do get round to testing those waiters, I hope it involves lots of electricity. ...

19. What do toilet paper and state monopolies have in common?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...products would you consider that important?   The South African government has quite a list:  fuel, electricity, education, telecommunications, transport, and information (amongst others). ...

20. Is the $ 100 laptop no more than a really expensive light-bulb?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...other than to add the following:  “In one Cambodian village where we have been working, there is no electricity, thus the laptop is, among other things, the brightest light source in the ho...