whythawk ratings: measuring effective development

1.
(Comments)

You make a good point about the informal sector. It\'s surprising, actually, that governments are not at all shy to draw attention to it, as if somehow it\'s the formal sector\'s fault. Thabo Mbeki, i

2.
(Comments)

Nope, Freedem, doesn\'t wash. The South African government disputes the connection between HIV and AIDS and won\'t distribute medication even though it\'s been donated. The US government doesn\'t li

3.
(Comments)

Perhaps that anger is because folk are presented with duplicitous duopoly of either the Government as Corporation, or the Corporation as government as if there was not another way. There was a time

4.
(Comments)

...t Zimbabwe has survived due to remittances and informality. However, I question your conclusion that \"No government should ever get rid of its informal economy, even if it were possible.It is a w...

5.
(Comments)

\"Forget PC\" I haven\'t the faintest idea what you\'re going on about; so what we have a mature black-led government, so what some of the rich are black. So what? There is a very stark formal sec

6.
(Comments)

...he \"its so incorrect I won\'t even dignify it with a response\" so: >South Africa has a mature black lead government >Many of the wealthiest people and surely the newly wealthy are black >Crime ...

7.
(Comments)

...ars ago Zimbabwe was one of the wealthiest nations in Africa. Did they get poor because of rich Americans or government corruption and failed economic policies? Rich people have no interest in poo...

8.
(Comments)

...m\" by William Baumol, et al (Yale University). They identify four types of capitalism: 1) State-guided - government \"guides\" the market; so France and Germany with their state \"champions\" 2)...

9.
(Comments)

Power corrupts, and governments in absolute power start forgetting that they\'re employs and start thinking they\'re the parents of particularly stupid children.

10.
(Comments)

...n that they always strive to give ultimate power to the consumer instead of to a monopolist (telecom company, government, etc.). - Max...

11.
(Comments)

... 100 laptop may have some utility. Whether this type of thing would be allowed in countries with dictatorial governments is another question. But, without having some form of linked and assisted e...

12.
(Comments)

...to be the most compelling argument for possible failure: Negroponte’s naïve faith in humanity extends to the governments he expects will distribute these computers “like textbooks”. These are the sa...

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

...e healthcare industry is profit-driven, not accessible to the poor majority and must be regulated. It is the government's mandate to care for the poor, not the private sector's. That doesn...

14. The hazard of market dominance
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ater the impact on price inflation. Effective control of the economy is in very few hands. The South African government comprises over 34% of the economy, as well as defining prices through legislati...

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

...s the main despatch and purchasing hub for international buyers. Back home, the failure of the South African government to hold the health ministry to account sees millions dieing from AIDS. Electri...

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

Governments do not know anything about competition, innovation or the power of individual investment. The best they can offer is collective blame shedding and the waste of taxpayers' money on pop

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

...or electricity. Eskom is largely state-owned and their pricing and investment strategy are controlled by the government. Plenty has already been discussed in the press regarding President Thabo Mbek...

18. Funding departments instead of people cheats everyone
(Analysis/Analysis)

...propriate education vouchers to parents and allowed them to cash them in at their favourite private schools. Government services have increased money supply without increasing economic value. Govern...

19. Zimbabwe's winds of change are blowing once more
(Analysis/Analysis)

...e security, and of lands (Land Reform and Resettlement), when asked for his reaction to one of the Zimbabwean government's trusted generals abandoning President Robert Mugabe's bandwagon. Form...

20. Jacob Zuma, Inflation Denialist?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...8.8% as the value of our money falls to reflect the real value of the economy. There are a few ways in which governments can counter inflation. The first is simply to destroy some of the money in ci...

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

...edibly inefficient way in which to produce biofuel. Monsanto, in a peculiar statement, has declared that the government's decision to not include maize as feedstock for biofuels will hurt farmers...

22. The Speculator: Pricing in the Future
(Analysis/Analysis)

...one started in the mid-1990s and seems to be bypassing broad-based industrial manufacturing altogether. When government demands more "beneficiation" of our resources prior to export this is...

23. Simba the Saviour?
(Analysis/Analysis)

...was dismissed soon after. Ironically, these same policies now form the backbone of the economic policies the government rely on. However, now - with the economy in free-fall - it is a case of too lit...

24. Exports and parliamentary laziness
(Analysis/Analysis)

...te, demanded of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka – a guest at the proceedings - that she look to government policy regarding economic policy support to encourage further such large-scale ...

25. Of Capitalism, Socialist Greed, Poverty and Remaining Silent
(Analysis/Analysis)

It is rare that major businesses dare to stick their necks out and object to government policy. Mostly they're too busy keeping their heads down to avoid all the shrapnel sent their way. "

26. Perlemoen and the Tragedy of the Commons
(Analysis/Analysis)

...could catch. A motorised trawler can haul significantly more fish than one chap in a skiff with a hand-net. Governments around the world recognised the problem. In 1982 the United Nations Conventio...

27. Contradictions resolve in ways you don't intend
(Analysis/Analysis)

...s do not improve production and efficiency then no rational business will hire you. It is unclear as to what government intends to do about this. Any social experiments towards job creation can be t...

28. 100 Days of Sodom
(Analysis/Analysis)

...emise that not having a job is sufficient reason to get one. There are 33,000 vacancies in state hospitals. Government administrators have thousands more unfilled positions. And this is just in the...

29. Slaves to land, the policies of Land Affairs
(Analysis/Analysis)

...of "hidden capital". De Soto has visited South Africa on several occasions to present his ideas to government officials. It appears that they have either not listened, or have concluded th...

30. The Miracle of Investment
(Analysis/Analysis)

... much money and rentals should be regulated. Maybe developers should apply for a certificate of need so that government can decide whether investments are good ideas or not. Imagine the result. As ...

31. Killing the Golden Goose, a lesson in Economic Freedom
(Analysis/Analysis)

...oose. The fable is a warning to those who take unearned wealth that is not freely given. It is a lesson few governments in Africa have cared to learn. Last week saw Robert Mugabe's thuggish regi...

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

...ompany. Old Mutual, with a large investment in Zimbabwe, is being forced to hand 51% of their local value to government nominees. South Africa's BEE laws have just forced HP to submit R 150 mill...

33. The spectre of loyalty over ability
(Analysis/Analysis)

...ove to places where they feel that their abilities will be rewarded. Poor leadership is not in short supply. Governments lose their best staff to companies and they, in turn, lose their best minds to...

34. Investment cannot happen if the market isn't private
(Analysis/Analysis)

Imagine that government decides that coastal property prices are sky-high and that the reason is that Jo'burgers are driving up prices. It seems logical. Jo'burgers earn greater salaries tha

35. Black Economic Empowerment, like charity, is not investment
(Analysis/Analysis)

...t the engagement bewildered and confused. All legislation has unintended consequences and the consequences of government’s continual focus on “Black Economic Empowerment” is becoming...

36. Black Swans, Cost Overruns and Industrial Tariffs
(Analysis/Analysis)

...s, the original cost estimates will be seen to be many orders of magnitude less than what we actually spend. Government will then come up with some wonderful "black swans" to explain precis...

37. Ending poverty means abandoning charity and accepting reality
(Analysis/Analysis)

... dismiss the question, which is an important one. With the failure of most centralised economic policies and governments in Africa the informal sector is the largest employer and service provider in ...

38. Atlas Shrugged at 50
(Analysis/Analysis)

...;s directors, the cost of polishing locally is $ 70 to $ 100 per carat, while it is $ 6 to $ 8 in India. The government can offer nothing to De Beers except to withdraw their offer of violence toward...

39. Department of inJustice: the corruption of high office
(Analysis/Analysis)

...viders of specialist legal opinions - is a chilling reminder of how far corruption can go as an honest government official falls foul of his unscrupulous minister GENERALLY CORRUPT ...

40. Zimbabwe: the Hollow State
(Analysis/Analysis)

...n, restoring this will take years. Revenge: the desire to revenge past injustice will fall most heavily on government workers in the police and parts of the bureaucracy that enforced Mugabe's r...

41. Science gone wrong: when self-delusion leads to death
(Analysis/Analysis)

...shorter and considerably more drab. The choice is yours. No-one is holding a gun to your head. Except the government when they tax the companies who sell the things you no longer want. ...

42. Everything is coming up Capitalism
(Analysis/Analysis)

...t, as with everything, depends on the context. Baumol identifies four types of Capitalism: 1) State-guided - government "guides" the market; so France and Germany with their state "cha...

43. Zimbabwe: recovering the irrecoverable
(Analysis/Analysis)

Anti-capitalist demonstrators around the world should be celebrating. Robert Mugabe's government has taken those against free-markets at their word. Over 1 300 business owners have been arrested

44. South Africa's two tiers
(Analysis/Analysis)

...rmal sector, has led to dramatic informal sector growth. So much so that this has been used to plug holes in government's job creation strategy. From Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka to F...

45. People, Planet and Profits: the complexities of corporate governance
(Analysis/Analysis)

...and making sure that executives don't defraud the shareholders. Climate Change and Union Representation Governments have an ambivalent attitude to companies. In the US the government exercises ...

46. The war of informal markets against central states; a bellwether of support
(Analysis/Analysis)

...t the state so they're undermining its power. The recent crackdown by Zimbabwean troops to enforce their government's decision to halve all prices (in effect, to revalue the Zimbabwe Dollar) ...

47. How every day on strike left civil servants permanently worse-off
(Analysis/Analysis)

Striking civil servants have, today, agreed on a wage increase with their boss, the South African Government. The 7.5% was the final offer tabled last week by government and rejected by COSATU, the Co

48. Getting Home in Zimbabwe: The impossibility of public transport
(Analysis/Analysis)

...consists of both state-supported parastatals, and the official and unofficial private players. The Zimbabwe government makes their subsidised fuel available, in order of hierarchy, to the parastatal...

49. Dave Bullard and Graham Knox: "We can't walk on water so why not try wine?"
(Analysis/Analysis)

...wine-producers declared on French state television that they were preparing for a violent showdown with their government unless they were offered a guaranteed minimum subsidy. EU subsidies are alread...

50. "Be sure, we will be watching you," the other GB and the pursuit of social justice
(Analysis/Analysis)

... The Rivonia Trial was central to the making of Bizos' career. He would go on to embarrass the Apartheid government on a regular basis. He revealed the true extent of state torture in the suicide...