The first thing she notices are the streetlights; they don’t have those in the village. The roads are nicer too; some still have potholes but they definitely can’t be compared to where she’s come from. Ada* is in the city, where her dreams of going to a good school and […]

More than 20 years after the fall of the communist regime, much of Hungarian society is highly disillusioned with capitalism which once held out such a glowing promise of prosperity for all. The transition from a planned economy to Western style globalised free markets has brought some winners but they […]

High unemployment and low living standards are forcing women in Northern Hungary to go West and seek work in the sex industry. Where do they come from? The current overall unemployment rate in Hungary stands at 10.3% but there are big regional differences. Unemployment in northern Hungary is 13.3% which […]

In October 2012, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published the World Economic Outlook (WEO), a forecast for more than 180 countries based on macroeconomic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation and fiscal balance. Ghana’s 2012 GDP of +8.18% has it listed as one of the top 20 fastest […]

Deep in American DNA is a visceral aversion to despotism….The bad news is that we don’t feel that way—anymore—about softer, more diffuse and bureaucratic forms of tyranny. Every American is taught from grade school up that they should fear living in the world of Orwell’s 1984. Few Americans can tell […]