TechPlus+ | Technology & Development Redux
-
State Formation in Latin America
Read more: State Formation in Latin AmericaContrary to accepted views, Latin American(LA) States are still comparatively incipient and have been so since independence in the 19th Century. But they have also managed to avoid large-scale and continuous wars between them, in sharp contrast with Western European states. How can we explain this apparent paradox while taking into account regional differences among…
-
Measuring Well-Being and Human Development
Read more: Measuring Well-Being and Human DevelopmentGDP: Thanks, but no thanks A recent issue of The Economist had a couple of articles (plus the issue’s cover) on measuring prosperity, defined as advancing living standards over time. Nowadays, gross domestic product, GDP,1 We can also include here GDP’s sibling, Gross National Income or GNI. is king for measuring such progress. However, The…
-
Economics Rules or Economics Rule?
Read more: Economics Rules or Economics Rule?After the 2008 crisis, many observers expected changes of some sort in current economic thinking and academic teaching. After all, most mainstream economists never saw the crisis coming – with some even claiming the era of crises was over. For many non-economists, the crisis demonstrated once again the perils of economics, the “dismal science”. Eight years…
-
Technology and Development in History
Read more: Technology and Development in HistoryNowadays, the diffusion pace of technologies on a global scale is unprecedented. This is true for Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) best represented by the Internet (and all its newer platforms) and mobile technologies. Most will also agree that technologies somehow play a decisive role in fostering economic development and economic growth. While that might be true…
-
Digital Dividends Déjà Vu
Read more: Digital Dividends Déjà VuBackground The first time I run into the notion of digital dividends was at the end of the last century. At the time, the first dot-com boom still running at full steam, totally unaware of the looming crash. Building on the hype of the new technologies and of the Internet in particular, the G-8 launched…
-
A “social” history of Bitcoin?
Read more: A “social” history of Bitcoin?A recent article by one of its lead developers argues that Bitcoin, defined as an experiment, has utterly failed. While the initial concept was to develop a form of digital money that was completely decentralized and autonomous from any bank or institution, today, Bitcoin is controlled by a few people. Besides, Bitcoin technology has now…
-
Best Films – 2015
Read more: Best Films – 2015A relatively slow year when it comes to films. Unlike previous, this year I only managed to see 99 films. That is almost 50 films less than last year. I am sure I missed quite a few. Around 700 films are annually released in the US. I probably saw maybe 10% of these, at most.…
-
Humans vs. Robots: A False Dilemma?
Read more: Humans vs. Robots: A False Dilemma?Nowadays, autonomous vehicles are all the rage. We even hear that perhaps in a few years cars will make human drivers obsolete. Instead, roads and highways will be filled with vehicles that drive themselves and carry humans as passengers only. We are also informed that such vehicles will increase safety, at least for accidents triggered by…
-
Economics and Long Term Ideas
Read more: Economics and Long Term IdeasNo doubt economics has come a long way since the times of Adam Smith almost 250 years ago. If we were to summarize its dynamics of change, we could say that economics has moved from a broad political economy approach to a more narrow and now mainstream focus where mathematics seems to play a vital…
-
How the West Came to Rule: Book Review
Read more: How the West Came to Rule: Book ReviewWhat role if any did non-Western nations played in the emergence of the West as a dominant historical force? This seems to be the key question the comprehensive book by Anievas and NIsancioglu attempts to answer. The problem is undoubtedly closely related to that of the emergence of capitalism in Western Europe and the role…
-
New Technology and Surveillance: An Odd Couple?
Read more: New Technology and Surveillance: An Odd Couple?Snowden’s revelations had put into evidence the seemingly strong link between new technologies such as the Internet and the capacity of some states to harness it as a tool for massive surveillance in real time. As some had argued, these revelations were not that shocking after all as they only confirmed what many have been…
-
Belated review of “Why Nations Fail”
Read more: Belated review of “Why Nations Fail”Acemoglou and Robinson’s book is now quite famous and certainly does not demand yet another review. The debate between the authors and Jeffrey Sachs is also well known (see http://bit.ly/1Ed4maK for the latest, and here for an independent assessment). The book proposes a seemingly simple model for the evolution of humanity since “the Neolithic Revolution”…
-
Robotics and job creation: Is this time different?
Read more: Robotics and job creation: Is this time different?Debates on the impact of automation on job creation are certainly not new. On the one side, we find those who argue that automation is the trigger for massive unemployment. On the other side are those who say automation can actually create more (and new) jobs. Historical evidence seems to show that both sides a…
-
Who are the Refugees?
Read more: Who are the Refugees?A few weeks ago, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, published its latest report on the current status of people who have been displaced from their homes and lands. Although I have not closely tracked down these reports in the past, my interest on the subject has been increasing over time…