If you haven’t yet checked out the Financial Times much-discussed breakdown on the economics of Somali piracy, do yourself a favor and allocate a few minutes’ worth of reading time. The piece won my heart by using buccaneer salary estimates to convey some perspective on how the notion of “dangerous work” differs so sharply between [...]
Entries Tagged as 'economics'
The Khat Economy
August 4th, 2010 · 3 Comments
Where would the Ethiopian economy be without the mild, broadly illegal stimulant known as khat? Apparently in quite dire straits: Coffee and khat exports earned Ethiopia close to 737 million dollars, which was 36.9pc of the total foreign exchange of two billion dollars that the country earned in the 2009/10 fiscal year with 36.5pc, 729.1 [...]
Grand Delusion
July 13th, 2010 · 2 Comments
One of the creepiest things about Burma’s ruling junta is its insistence on creating the trappings of prosperity, even as the vast majority of the nation grapples with desperate economic circumstances. Take the recent Yangon Auto Show, which followed the Western blueprint to a T with scantily-clad models draped across shiny new vehicles. Yet the [...]
Ice Van Wyck
July 9th, 2010 · 7 Comments
At the end of Wednesday’s post about one of the least heralded pioneers of refrigeration, we noted that the “ice lobby” had been instrumental in frustrating John Gorrie’s dreams of freezing water via mechanical means. This notion struck us as rather humorous since we can scarcely think of a less valuable commodity these days than [...]
Tags:Charles W. Morse·crime·economics·Ice Trust·New York City·politics·pseudoscience
What Sand and Cocaine Have in Common
June 10th, 2010 · 3 Comments
Despite a government ban, Cambodian dredgers are once again raking the floor of the Koh Pao River in search of vast quantities of sand. The risk of running afoul of the authorities is apparently far outweighed by the riches to be gained from exporting sand to Singapore, which desperately needs the granular commodity to expand [...]
Tags:Cambodia·crime·economics·Indonesia·sand·Singapore·smuggling·trade·War on Drugs
Jamaica’s Crossroads
May 26th, 2010 · 1 Comment
As the violence continues in Kingston, let’s pause to consider the scope of Jamaica’s problems. By any measure, the nation should have long ago started working its way toward the middle of the development tables. Think about how much the place has going for it: lots of bauxite, fertile soil, an English-speaking populace, a thriving [...]
Tags:Christopher Coke·corruption·crime·economics·Jamaica·politics
Where the Sharks Swim
May 25th, 2010 · 4 Comments
In the latest account of NBA big man Eddy Curry’s never-ending money woes, this passage jumped out at us: On Friday, a Manhattan court ordered Curry to pay $75,000 a month to lender Allstar Capital Inc. to resolve a debt that swelled to $1.2 million with interest. The court also has issued an order letting [...]
Tags:basketball·crime·economics·Eddy Curry·loan sharking·Nevada·sports
The Provider
May 24th, 2010 · 5 Comments
America’s long-running (and endlessly futile) War on Drugs is on the verge of claiming another casualty: the government of Jamaica. The Caribbean nation’s capital is partly in flames today, as residents of Tivoli Gardens battle police with fire bombs and heavy weaponry. The reason for the bloodshed is the government’s call for the surrender of [...]
Tags:Christopher Coke·corruption·crime·economics·IMF·Jamaica·poverty·War on Drugs
The Organ Trade Equation
May 20th, 2010 · 6 Comments
As we jam on our monthly Wired column deadline, we thought we’d give y’all something to chew over—a interesting snippet pulled from this excellent Discover piece about the kidney black market in India. Given our philosophical leanings, we generally find ourselves arguing for the legalization and regulation of kidney sales. But then we come across [...]
Tags:Discover·economics·India·Iran·medical science·organ donation
Movable Props
May 4th, 2010 · 5 Comments
Contrary to our expectations, the Haim Saban profile in this week’s New Yorker is a killer read. We had no idea that the man’s empire began with a spectacular insight about cartoon music royalties, or that kiddie-show billionaires have such awesome pull with world leaders. And there is at least one classic reporting detail, in [...]
Tags:economics·Haim Saban·Mighty Morphin Power Rangers·television·The New Yorker
The Men With Weathered Hands
April 21st, 2010 · 1 Comment
Given that our stance on immigration tends to dovetail quite nicely with a certain hoity-toity newsmagazine, we can only shake our heads at Arizona’s latest legislative shenanigans. Sure, we probably shouldn’t be surprised by anything that comes out a state that often seems content to go its oddball way (to Chuck D.’s tremendous displeasure). But [...]
Union City Blues
April 20th, 2010 · 2 Comments
We’re still dealing with making sure all’s cool with the kid, so just a quick check-in regarding the 30th anniversary of the Mariel Boatlift. The clip above comes from a local station in northern New Jersey, home to the largest Cuban-American community outside South Florida. Make it to the back half and you’ll see that [...]
Tags:Cuba·economics·Florida·immigration·Mariel Boatlift·Miami·New Jersey
Out Here in the Fields
April 15th, 2010 · 4 Comments
In the midst of researching the economic downsides of bride prices, we came across this recent study from Tanzania, where money always changes hands before a young couple’s nuptials. As noted in the chart above, girls who toil in the fields attract far greater bride prices than peers who stick close to home: Using an [...]
Fake Can Be Just as Good?
April 15th, 2010 · No Comments
With the start of the World Cup less than two months away, South African cops are working hard to stem the tide of counterfeit jerseys: A Swazi man was on Saturday night arrested at the Oshoek Border gate after allegedly being found with 12,000 fake World Cup soccer shirts worth E3.6million. SAPS spokesman Colonel Vishnu [...]
Tags:counterfeiting·crime·economics·soccer·South Africa·World Cup
Where Sugar and Spice Shall Soon Be Rare
March 24th, 2010 · 2 Comments
The financial crunch caused by Microkhan Jr.’s increasing appetite for food and Cookie Monster paraphernalia forced us to drop our Economist subscription this year, so we’re late to the mag’s report on the drop in female births throughout much of the world. But it’s essential reading—a disturbing look at a trend that could lead to [...]
A Lovely Place to Say Goodbye To
March 15th, 2010 · 5 Comments
There is plenty of statistical candy to consume in the CIA Factbook‘s latest net migration figures. We had no idea, for example, that people were actually flocking to strife-torn Cyprus, or that Grenadians were so hot to leave the erstwhile Isle of Spice. But what really struck us was a stat that harkens back to [...]
Gaming the System
March 9th, 2010 · 4 Comments
When conducting business deals with their fellow private citizens, people basically tend to be honest. Perhaps this is because we all secretly fear retribution and punishment, no matter how unlikely the consequences. Or maybe it’s just that we’re wired to realize that society can’t function if we’re constantly preoccupied with suspicion. Whatever the explanation, the [...]
The Nollywood Math
March 8th, 2010 · 2 Comments
As the late Art Buchwald would have been happy to tell you, Hollywood’s accounting practices tend to be garbled at best, and borderline criminal at worst. Studio bean counters are masters of obfuscation and misdirection, with a knack for making blockbusters seem like middling hits, and profitable B-movies appear like money losers. Figuring out how [...]
Let It Grow
March 1st, 2010 · No Comments
Whenever we find ourselves wandering around a massive Chinese supermarket, we inevitably gawk at the price of dried abalone. The delicacy has never crossed our lips thanks to its exorbitant cost. But millions of Asian consumers are willing to fork over the pretty penny, in part due to the marine snail’s reputation as an aphrodisiac. [...]
Tags:abalone·China·crime·drugs·economics·methamphetamine·South Africa·wildlife management
Shell Game
February 24th, 2010 · 2 Comments
The Wired cover story this month is not our Ug99 opus, but rather a brilliant meditation on the future of money. A couple of years hence, you can forget about the ATM—just think “pay this man,” and neural implants will automatically wire dough from your bank account to your creditor. Or something like that. In [...]
Ending the Cycle of Blood
February 23rd, 2010 · 2 Comments
In reading about the persistence of clan feuding on Mindanao, we got to thinking about how governments can best end such cycles of revenge. Our natural assumption is that these feuds exist where organized justice is in short supply, and so familial units take over the role of punishing offenders. But a University of Maryland [...]
If Vulcan Rears His Head
February 17th, 2010 · 6 Comments
Because so few potential clients are directly threatened by volcanoes, the insurance industry hasn’t developed sophisticated models to estimate damage due to cataclysmic eruptions. But sooner or later, a volcano located near a major population center is going to blow, and government cash alone may not be enough to heal the economic wounds. Could the [...]
Tags:economics·Indonesia·insurance·Italy·Mount Tambora·Mount Vesuvius·volcanoes
Cashed Out
February 11th, 2010 · 5 Comments
A few days back, we touched on the challenges of undermining one’s enemy by counterfeiting his currency. Today we’d like to shift the focus to another tactic of fiscal warfare: issuing a new currency upon seceding from a national union. We all know the Confederacy did it back in the day, but it has become [...]
Fake It ‘Til You Make It
February 9th, 2010 · 4 Comments
Nations at odds have long resorted to counterfeiting one another’s currencies, on the theory that doing so can severely undermine a foe’s economy. But the tactic just doesn’t sting like it used to, in part because cash is so less essential today, but also because the increasing sophistication of anti-counterfeiting technology has made the gambit [...]
Tags:Alabama·counterfeiting·crime·economics·Iran·North Korea
Desperation in Action
February 8th, 2010 · 4 Comments
One of our treasured Japanese correspondents just have us a heads up about this tragedy, involving an airplane stowaway who apparently froze to death while concealed in a Boeing 777′s landing gear. Such deaths are actually somewhat common, not to mention quite predictable—at 35,00 feet, temperatures are insanely icy, and oxygen scarce. Yet men and [...]
Tags:airplane stowaways·aviation·Cuba·economics·immigration·public health·Tahiti
Let Me Stand Inside Your Fire
February 5th, 2010 · 2 Comments
South Koreans are scrambling to incinerate their dead like never before, a trend that has forced the government to revise the law and allow funeral homes to cremate bodies, rather than ship them to one of only four crematoriums in the entire nation. That certainly seems like a much-needed legal step, given the recent increase [...]
Tags:burial·cremation·economics·South Korea·Tennessee·Washington
“Superfly Snuka Jumping from the Turnbuckle”
January 19th, 2010 · 1 Comment
Looking to use some Amazon credit we scored over the holidays, we flirted with the idea of finally picking up an album that we’ve long coveted: Sean Price‘s ultra-rare Donkey Sean Jr. mixtape, which features the oft-remixed (and eternally amazing) “60 Bar Dash.” Lo and behold, however, we’re not the only folks with such ideas [...]
Tags:economics·hip-hop·music·Sean Price
A Bitter Price Tag
January 7th, 2010 · 2 Comments
Last night while cooking dinner, we decided to rev up a documentary that’s been languishing on our Netflix Instant queue for ages: Witch Hunt. Suffice to say that we weren’t anywhere near prepared for the ensuing 90 minutes, in which the filmmakers unwind a completely devastating J’accuse regarding the Kern County child-abuse panic of the [...]
Tags:California·crime·economics·John Stoll·law·movies·South Korea·Witch Hunt
The Vaccine Dream Deferred
November 10th, 2009 · 3 Comments
An MIT economist argues that botched incentives, rather than scientific hurdles, are frustrating the quest for an HIV vaccine. The point that jumped out at us the most: It has become increasingly apparent that an HIV vaccine may need to be administered in combination with antiretroviral drugs, even if a stand-alone vaccine remains the ultimate [...]
Drought and Drugs
October 27th, 2009 · No Comments
Australia’s epic drought could end up being something of a boon to neighboring New Zealand, at least in terms of aboveboard narcotic production. Half the world’s legal opium crop is grown on tiny Tasmania, largely under the auspices of Tasmania Alkaloids—a company that operates under the all-time most intentionally innocuous slogan of “Value Adding in [...]
Tags:agriculture·Australia·drugs·economics·New Zealand·opium·Tasmania·Tasmanian Alkaloids
