All Recent FutureChallenges Posts

We’ve weathered our first opening up to free trade The first experience of post-communist Slovakia with free markets was a big shock to our uncompetitive and poorly managed companies which failed to rise to the challenge. Over time, they have been replaced by new ones, often with foreign owners – […]

Fiji has a very high poverty rate. In 2010 45% of Fijians lived under the poverty line and this figure has certainly risen since then due to the economic crisis and chronic lack of employment. With only one year left to the much anticipated 2014 Fijian elections, the big question […]

Most Americans have, for generations, never truly questioned the basic system that allows goods and services to flow across state borders, unencumbered by tariffs, taxes, or other measures that would protect local industries from rivals in other states. And yet, many criticize international free trade agreements for their supposed pernicious results. Why the hypocrisy?

Abstract: It is hard to tell if government spending cuts and austerity measures are good or bad to deal with deficits and financial crisis. In Colombia, the tendency to reduce public spending has affected sensitive sectors like education and health. This is far from being unnoticed, there have been lots […]

Nigeria has come a long way from 1974 when General Gowon said that the problem was not money itself but rather how to spend it. Sadly, the way since then has been been all downhill. Back then we spent more on capital projects and infrastructure than on recurrent spending. These […]

Ever since the negative effects of the global economic crisis began to show in 2009, countries have nearly focused on patching budget deficits and reducing debt to retain “economic health”. But recently European Union leaders have begun to acknowledge that speedy  spending cuts could not be the magic solution for […]