Tim Worstall

So we’ve this development problem, see? We need to get African agriculture up to speed. Current yields are pitiful and by and large it’s horribly inefficient peasant farming. That needs to change, just as our own agriculture changed over the past two centuries. Quite apart from anything else, the introduction of efficient agriculture will mean [...]

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What a wonderful finding! Two rival theories have been put forward as to why: one suggests that we’re fair to strangers because we mistakenly treat them like kin, the other that social conditioning makes us this way. In a recent edition of the journal Science, new evidence is presented that comes down solidly on the [...]

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I do hope all those who have been screaming about the coup in Honduras will at least have the good grace to be embarrassed by this: TEGUCIGALPA — It’s been 89 days since Manuel Zelaya was booted from power. He’s sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and “Israeli [...]

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Those who forget the past are condemned to hear a Santayana quote. Bill Easterly

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I’m not sure I understand this. OK, the Asian Development Bank: an institution whose mission is to reduce poverty Right, OK, good thing too. Instead, these officials have decided to refocus ADB operations on three areas: inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration, with a heavy emphasis on private-sector development. The ADB is [...]

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Errm, excuse me? A global ban on cloning humans must be introduced "urgently" to prevent rogue scientists creating cloned babies, a United Nations report warns. The report, published by law experts at the UN University’s Institute of Advanced Studies, which advises the organisation, warns that it is just a matter of time before a human [...]

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