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Beware the zombies, ghouls, ghosts, and vampires that will flood streets across the country this Halloween Friday. Of course they’re mostly just children in costume with one thing on their minds: candy. And lots of it.
Momentum seems to be building on Capitol Hill for some kind of West African travel ban as an anti-Ebola measure. It sounds like a simple solution. But here’s why a travel ban is pointless—or could even make us less safe.
Energy poverty is back on the global agenda and Africa is the front line. The International Energy Agency (IEA) just released their annual World Energy Outlook with a special report on the African energy sector.
The priority for policymakers concerned about the Ebola epidemic in West Africa should be to respond to the existing outbreak, treat the victims, and contain its spread. But the longer term lesson is that we need to be willing to spend more on global health.
Should countries be more like shopping malls and compete for investors on the global capital market? Shopping malls have strong incentives to price services efficiently and to deliver them as promised.
The African Development Bank is an amazing turnaround story. The regional development bank was close to shutting down after losing its AAA credit rating in 1995 and, worse, squandering the confidence of its shareholders.
As African leaders meet in Washington this week, one issue is not on the agenda: the poor quality of basic economic and social data in the region.
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) needs to be reauthorized next year and discussions about how to improve it are picking up steam. There is a lot that is unknown—when it will be renewed, for how long, and whether the renewal will be as “seamless” as everyone says they want.
We are one week away from the first ever US-Africa Summit. As some fifty heads of state prepare to descend on Washington DC on Aug 4, the only certainties are that the hotels will be packed and downtown traffic will be a snarl. But what to expect from the Summit itself?
When President Obama hosts some four dozen heads of state from sub-Saharan Africa next week, enhancing US-Africa trade and investment ties will be high on the agenda. At the center of US economic policy towards Africa is the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
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