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Advocating For a Better Economic Environment for Refugees
Refugee youth in Kakuma Refugee camp embody the endurance of the human spirit. A study carried out by the International Financial Corporation (IFC) in 2018 took a unique look at Kakuma Refugee Camp a...
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Democracy at Work?

What do you do if neither the Constitution nor the ballot box can resolve a dispute?  Citizens in Thailand have decided to turn to the king and ask him for help.  And such sentiments are not limited to Thailand: Observers say monarchs in Asia's emerging democracies have provided a check against ...

Price Controls Revisited

The Russian government, concerned with high inflation which it partly links to the rising prices of goods and services provided by Russia's natural resource companies, is calling on the Russian oil companies to "take measures" to prevent price increases this spring. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fr...

New Blog from the World Bank

PSD Blog is no longer the only World Bank blog enlightening us on issues of economic growth and democratic development.  Welcome Poverty and Growth Blog!

China’s Trapped Transition

I had an opportunity to attend a presentation by Minxin Pei on his new book China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy. Minxin Pei refutes three popular "myths" associated with China's current economic and political situation: economic growth inevitably leads to political l...

Women Participation

Slowly but surely, a labor market revolution is taking place in Egypt, Record numbers of Egyptian women are holding jobs, and the variety of careers open to them is rising. Women serve as bank CEOs, newspaper editors, university deans, and government ministers. One has been appointed a judge. I sens...

Corruption and Aid

Although this story is a little dated, I just came across it and thought that it deserves some attention.  A few weeks ago, Oxfam suspended its reconstruction activities in tsunami damaged Aceh, citing corruption concerns.  Certainly a sign of ethical behavior from an organization, which chose not...

Shock Altruism

Over the past few months, and most recently in the Washington Post, there have been a variety of articles about the Millenium Village Project.  Created and carried out by Jeffrey Sachs and the Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Millenium Village Project attempts to provide destitute villag...

Kuwaiti women vote

A brief note, since this was not well-covered in mainstream media: Today, Kuwaiti women made history when they voted for the first time in municipal elections, where two women also were running for office. This paves the way for them to vote in the 2007 parliamentary elections, the only elected pa...

Dangers of a Cash Based Economy

A tragic - yet not uncommon - story in Russia: a businessman, exploring new business opportunities, killed while carrying $400,000 in cash.  Why carry this much cash and not use a bank system?    The killing casts the spotlight once again on the prickly issue of cash-only payments, a tax-avoi...

Student Protests…in Africa

While protests in France are capturing the headlines, students in various African countries also “take it to the streets.”  See a discussion on the BBC website, where students share opinions on their right to protest against government policies and actions of school administrators. Many...

Peru’s Next President

Last week, the current president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, highlighted that during his presidency the country has grown on average at 5%, which is quite an accomplishment when compared to previous periods in Peru's recent history. However, while Alejandro Toledo has "been a good manager, he has bee...

Developing a Standard on CSR

A new standard on corporate social responsibility, ISO-26000, is currently being developed. ISO-26000 is designed as a guide to help businesses understand where their responsibilities to various stakeholders begin and end. The standard, long in demand by Western businesses, will provide a company wi...

50,000 in Iraq

50,000 is a pretty big number — bigger than most you see in headlines about Iraq, unless you’re talking budget numbers.  50,000 caught my eye in a report as the number of Iraqi businessmen and women that CIPE has reached in 2 years through its network of over 40 business associations a...

The Ghost of Tuol Sleng

Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is quiet now.  Gone are the screams of the dying, the cries of the broken, and the disaffected stares of the condemned.  Tuol Sleng was known as S-21 during Pol Pot's time and was one of a network of prisons that the Khmer Rouge used to punish "enemies of ...

Too Big of a Government?

BBC Monitoring, via Johnson’s Russia List, reports that   Russian officials are multiplying at a record-breaking rate. According to the Federal Service of State Statistics data, over the last year [2005] alone, the legion of bureaucrats grew by nearly 150,000, that is by over 10 per cent. Al...

Corporate Governance in Russia

Today, CIPE held a roundtable with Dr. Igor Belikov, Director of the Russian Institute of Directors, who discussed the state of corporate governance in Russia -- its past, present, and future.  In his presentation Dr. Belikov brought to the forefront some issues which are not unique to Russia alon...

First, Do No Harm

It is interesting to see the increase in publicity recently on microfinancing projects around the world that cater to women, especially in Africa and Asia.  Many of these programs are touted as solutions to poverty and oppression – by giving a woman enough money to run a microenterprise, micr...

CIPE in Sudan

A chance to work with the recently created South Sudan Chamber of Commerce took me to Sudan for my first visit, and, I believe, CIPE’s first visit as well.  A truly unique country with sights and sounds unimaginable.  Only less than two years out of Civil War and enjoying nearly world-wide a...

Local Business Coalition Comes to the Rescue

What can private entrepreneurs expect when jumping into the sea of entrepreneurship at their own risk? Where do they turn for advice and support? One Russian entrepreneur, Marina Tereshenko, has the answer:  to the local business coalition. Marina Tereshenko sells meat products at Mefodiev market i...
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