What it takes to become an academic economist is changing
Aug 8th 2020WASHINGTON, DCNABBING A TOP academic job in America requires obtaining a PhD, preferably from a good university. That, in turn, requires stellar undergraduate marks, the right maths courses and a glowing letter of recommendation. Increasingly, pre-doctoral programmes, or pre-docs, are serving as a new rung on the professional ladder. These schemes, which typically…
Dollar dominance is as secure as American global leadership
Aug 8th 2020IT HAS BEEN an ugly summer for America and the dollar. The greenback fell by more than 4% against a basket of other major currencies in July, the largest monthly decline in a decade, as the value of euros, gold and even bitcoin soared. In a year packed with extreme market movements, the…
A dam failure raises concerns about corruption in Uzbekistan
WHEN A DAM burst in Uzbekistan in May, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president, was quick to promise justice for the victims. Those responsible for the disaster, which killed six people and displaced over 100,000, would answer before the law “regardless of who they are”, he pledged. On social media, ordinary Uzbeks aired their suspicions that negligence…
Thai pupils fight for the right to be hirsute
Aug 8th 2020AT A BUSY intersection in Bangkok 15-year-old Benjamaporn Nivas sits in her school uniform with her hands bound behind her and her mouth taped shut. A sign hanging from her neck reads “This pupil violates school rules by wearing her hair long, past her ears and with a fringe. Please punish her.” On…
Africa closes in on 1m reported cases of covid-19
“IT’S BEEN hectic,” says Thabo Nko, an undertaker in Soweto, a township on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Before the pandemic he would do two or three burials in a week. These days he is doing about 20. The nearest public cemeteries are full, so he has to bury some corpses 50km away.Surprisingly, all the death…
Why Johannesburg restaurants are full of teapots
UPON ARRIVAL at an expensive restaurant near Sandton, Johannesburg’s financial district, nothing feels unusual, at least in this age of covid-19. The maître-d’ zaps a temperature gun at patrons’ masked faces and spritzes their hands with sanitiser. Only when ushered into the dining room does something seem odd: every table has a pot of tea.South…
Beirut after the blast: the crunch of glass, acrid smoke and stairs slick with blood
THE CLOCK had just struck 6pm when the world shook. From Sassine Square, one mile (1.6km) from the blast, it seemed like a car bomb or a gas explosion—a disaster, but a localised one. Only on the drive down towards the Mediterranean did the scale of the devastation become clear. Streets were blanketed with broken…