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James Marriott’s recent essay The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society struck a nerve on me. He mentions that we might be seeing the gradual decline of literacy as the basis for advanced cognition, which goes beyond the current state of books or reading habits. In my opinion, it indicates a more deep shift in the
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What do shuttered factories in the American Rust Belt and struggling farms in rural India, have in common? Both have seen livelihoods shrink, opportunities vanish, and communities feel abandoned by economic progress (Vance, 2016). This is the fertile ground of insecurity, where right-wing populism has gained momentum across continents (Rodrik, 2018). These movements offer easy
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People in finance often talk about “alpha”, a fancy word for doing better than the average market investor. Usually, they look for it in cutting-edge tech or business strategies. But what if a powerful source of outperformance has been hiding in plain sight, in how companies treat their people? The idea of “social alpha” is
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I wake up late, open the app on my phone, and wait for the first order to come in. By midday I’ve already delivered meals across the city, earbuds in, half-listening to podcasts and scrolling through my feeds. The message is everywhere: work harder, push further, the money is out there. If I don’t have
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Microfinance is known as the provision of small loans, savings, and other basic financial services to people that might be excluded from formal banking, often due to lack of providing necessary paperwork (payslips, collateral, credit history), it has become one of the major cornerstone of international development efforts by many organizations and institutions. There has
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In many developing countries, large-scale corporate ventures often promise significant growth, new employment, and infrastructure investments. However, the reality in places such as Colombia and Mexico shows how urgent it is to ensure that economic expansion is both sustainable and equitable. The Cerrejón mining project in La Guajira, Colombia, and the contamination of the Río
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Chapter I: Introduction to the Middle-Income trap Few concepts in development economics have garnered as much debate in recent years as the so-called middle-income trap. This term describes a situation in which a country’s economy grows fast enough to escape the ranks of low-income nations yet struggles to attain the more advanced status of high-income
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When reading D. Wraight (2010), the economist made a striking thought: Africa’s development trajectory might have been profoundly different if zebras had been domesticated. At first glance, this might seem unusual, but it underscores the pivotal role that domesticated animals have played in shaping human societies and economies. In Europe, for instance, horses were instrumental
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The European Climate Law, adopted in 2021 (European Climate Law, 2021), marked a significant milestone in global climate governance by setting a legal precedent at the regional level. It transformed the ambitious goals of the European Green Deal into binding legislation, committing the European Union to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. As part of this
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Minimum wage policies are among the most debated tools in modern economics. At their core, these policies aim to safeguard workers’ earnings, reduce poverty, and address income inequalities. Yet, their implementation and effectiveness remain highly contested, with discussions ranging from their impact on employment and productivity to their role in promoting economic justice. One critical