Economics & Marginalia

Economics and Marginalia is an attempt to keep ahead of the avalanche of content published every week – the writing on economics, politics, development and pop culture that keeps my brain occupied. In it, I pick between 5 and 10 of my favourite pieces of -mainly- popular economics and political commentary every week and briefly summarise what I liked about it, or what it taught me, in an accessible way.

The guiding spirit behind this blog is that the world is complicated but comprehensible, and I look to showcase writing that doesn’t dumb down the complexity, but puts a premium on clarity.

More from the Series

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Economics & Marginalia: September 27, 2024

September 27, 2024
Getting back into the weekly routine with the links makes them simultaneously easier and harder to write: there is less to choose from each week, which makes the selection of the final list easier, but it’s harder to write the intro, which always takes the longest. It doesn’t help that the weather h...
Blog Post

Economics & Marginalia: September 20, 2024

September 20, 2024
Thanks to everyone who offered advice for toddlers at sporting events—the little one was impeccably behaved until he finished his lunch, after which time we had to beat a hasty retreat and follow the rest of the day’s play on my app, thus missing probably the best session of Sri Lankan test cricket ...
Blog Post

Economics & Marginalia: September 6, 2024

September 06, 2024
We’ve just come back from a week-long trip to Portugal, and if these links come off as slightly exhausted, it’s because they are. We had an amazing time, highlighted by pristine beaches, industrial quantities of clams being eaten by my son, and about 7 viewings of Madagascar, but it was bookended by...
Blog Post

Economics & Marginalia: August 23, 2024

August 23, 2024
You know what else is never boring? Ken Opalo’s substack. Of course, he’s helped by a fascinating subject: the various function and dysfunction of African politics and economics. This week is decidedly about the dysfunction: the civil war in Sudan and what we know about the role of external powers i...