As Andrew Sullivan has chronicled, it has been a couple of exciting weeks for those who hope technology will unleash a wave of democratization.  Texts, tweets and technorati have surely played a role.  At the same time, Marx predicted the railroad would lead to the dictatorship of the proletariat, and we all know how that [...]

The recent global financial crisis has added 100 million more to the ranks of the world’s undernourished, according to the FAO.  Doubtless Paul Ehrlich is saying “I told you so.”  But it may be a little soon to dust off your copy of Malthus.  The trend remains towards the tubby.  There are as many people [...]

The WHO has declared swine flu a pandemic and the US is considering a vaccination program involving 600 million doses. 
So far, the CDC estimates that there have been a million infections and 127 deaths in the US.  That’s a pretty low death rate, of around one per ten thousand.  The US rate for measles [...]

Dambisa Moyo  is one of Time’s 100 most influential people alongside the women of The View and ahead of Vladimir Putin (influential last year.  This year, meh).  She continues to attract attention and stir acrimonious debate.  But one thing her critics and supporters agree about is that Africa is in a mess.   
I’ve just finished [...]

As the healthcare debate continues raging in the US, universally covered Europeans look on smugly from the sidelines.  (Well, not all Europeans.    Tim Worstall argues that high US health spending is the successful application of the will of the market.) 
Meanwhile, President Obama has been telling his staff to read Atul Gawande on the weak relationship between spending and the [...]