The financial crisis has led to a lot of talk about the failure of ethics in the banking sector. Greed overtook wisdom, we're told. No doubt this is the case....
Andrew Pickering
Andrew Pickering is studying for an MA in International Political Economy. He blogs at From Davos to Seattle.
Anglo-Iranian relations face new low: AKA spooks on a plane
In the light of ongoing events in Iran (which sadly seem to be in danger of being utterly overshadowed by the other thing), various commentators have been...
21st century finance: too complex to exist?
As we push on through the recession, one thing that we haven't seen enough of is solid original thinking about the causes of the crisis and what can be done...
Fool’s gold
It's well known that in times of crisis, people fall back on the certainties of old. Among these is that gold is a good investment, for gold always holds its...
Geldof slams ‘poor, sad Italy’
Development charity One.org has released its annual report examining how far G8 countries are meeting their Gleneagles commitment to double aid to Africa. The...
IMF funding faces the Capitol Hill merry-go-round
In the world of Bretton Woods watchers such as myself (and what a world that is), all eyes are on the US Congress, where lawmakers are deciding on the fate of...
Shell settles Saro-Wiwa case
After 13 years, Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay $15.5 million compensation to settle a court case over its alleged part in the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa...
Aid during the downturn
A few days ago the House of Commons International Development Committee released its latest report (entitled Aid Under Pressure: Support for Development...
Spreading the wealth to evade the Dutch disease
Yesterday's Financial Times featured an interesting proposal from Martin Sandbu and Nicholas Shaxson, aimed at evading the so-called 'Dutch disease', in which...
World Bank taking a leaf out of Westminster’s book on expenses
Here in Britain, the fallout from recent revelations about MPs' expenses continues. Meanwhile, it seems that World Bank officials have been up to similar...
The Dead Aid debate so far
Dambisa Moyo is rapidly becoming the bête noire of orthodox development circles. Her recent book, Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How There is a Better...
More from Global Dashboard
Let’s make climate a culture war!
If the politics of climate change end up polarised, is that so bad? No – it’s disastrous. Or so I’ve long thought. Look at the US – where climate is even more polarised than abortion. Result: decades of flip flopping. Ambition under Clinton; reversal...
Big Elephants and Small Islands: getting beyond the New Aid Orthodoxy
Official development assistance (ODA) – or aid – is a small but conspicuous pillar of the international order, and its frailties are being exposed by COVID as surely as those of the other foundations of this order. The assumptions underpinning aid and its management...
Uncertainty and Humanitarian Action: What Donald Rumsfeld can teach us
Since its onset, one striking feature of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has been the narrative power of its novelty. This global narrative depicts COVID-19 pushing humanity towards a ‘historical divide’ of BC and AC (before and after COVID-19), where unknown,...