Tag: S23.1

Business and Technology, International, Interviews

Interview with Gerard Lyons: the future of semiconductors

Gerard B Lyons is a Business Researcher at the Centre for Policy Studies, the UK’s most influential centre-right think tank, which produces reports and advises the Government on a host of domestic policy areas – ranging from taxation and economic growth to welfare policy and the green agenda.  He covers financial regulation, tax and innovation policy. Coming from a financial communications background in the City of London … Continue reading Interview with Gerard Lyons: the future of semiconductors

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Development, History, Middle East and Africa, Politics

From Guns to Gold: The Wagner Group’s exploitation of Africa and Ukraine

PMC (“Private Military Company”) Wagner, more commonly known as The Wagner Group, is a paramilitary organisation based in Russia. Founded in 2014, Yevgeny Prigozhin a Russian oligarch and a close confidant of Russian president Vladimir Putin, took over the company shortly after its founding. The Wagner Group first came to prominence during the Donbas conflict in Ukraine from 2014 to 2015. The Wagner Group’s activities … Continue reading From Guns to Gold: The Wagner Group’s exploitation of Africa and Ukraine

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Finance and Markets

Golden Opportunities

Throughout centuries man has been searching for repetitive (or seemingly repetitive) patterns in evolution and social change, both of which underpin the economic world.  One such pattern is based on the Golden Ratio (Phi). This ratio is a consequence of a particular sequence identified by Fibonacci in the 13th century, and its fascination is based on the fact that it appears throughout science and nature so often … Continue reading Golden Opportunities

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Asia, Development, Finance and Markets, International

Microfinance: What went wrong?

In 1983, Mohammed Yunus founded the Grameen Bank. His idea was simple: the bank would grant tiny loans, often no more than $100, to women in rural Bangladesh who had no access to credit. In the following decades, repayment rates for some schemes were as high as 98%, and Yunus attracted major funds from backers such as the Ford Foundation. In 2020, more than $50 billion of credit was being given to the poor – this time, by giant global banks, … Continue reading Microfinance: What went wrong?

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Development, Middle East and Africa

Nigeria’s Reliance on Oil

The idea of universally accessible electricity and safe public infrastructure – in the likes of roads – has become widely regarded as basic and expected in the west. However, in Nigeria, blackouts and unsuitable roads have become regular encounters. It is now ranked as amongst the bottom 20 nations via the Global Peace Index; crime rates have reached some of the highest levels in the … Continue reading Nigeria’s Reliance on Oil

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China, Development

The holes in the road – has China’s Belt and Road initiative been too ambitious?

Over the past ten years, the world has witnessed the staggering growth of China from a developing nation to the worlds second largest economy by GDP. One of its most notable projects is its infamous Belt and Road initiative. This has led China to become the biggest creditor in the world, larger today than the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World bank, driving billions of dollars of … Continue reading The holes in the road – has China’s Belt and Road initiative been too ambitious?

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Asia, Development, Environment

The Lost Snow Leopards: Seven Steps to Rejuvenate Central Asian Economies

Central Asia (made up of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) has historically been a dominant player on the world’s economic stage.  Its role as the heart of the legendary Silk Road (the main land corridor between Europe and Asia) and the USSR’s mining powerhouse in the 20th century rightfully earned these countries the nickname ‘the Snow Leopards’.  However, the USSR’s collapse in 1991 has left the region at risk of … Continue reading The Lost Snow Leopards: Seven Steps to Rejuvenate Central Asian Economies

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International

The Struggle of Hosting the Olympics

The summer and winter Olympic Games are undeniably two of the world’s most prestigious sporting events, and hosting either of these mammoth occasions is generally seen as a privilege and an economic opportunity for the host city. However, taking a deeper look into the potentially crippling economic costs combined with the minimal benefit for cities hosting the games reveals massive issues that leave future hosting … Continue reading The Struggle of Hosting the Olympics

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