Blogs for the Economist

Greetings.

Day 9 of the #UgBlogMonth challenge requires that we share our favourite blogs. Two blogs and two  weekly columns come to mind. One I don't read very much, but because the writer usually presents an opinion that is antithesis to my own (as well as that of one of the other blogs on this list) it's only fair that I share it in true intellectual spirit.

1. Foresight by Dr. Ibrahim Mike Okumu

Dr. Okumu is a Senior Lecturer at Makerere's School of economics, and possibly the only blogging academic in the country. He provides an in-depth analysis of key issues that are very relevant to Uganda and developing countries in general.

2. Greg Mankiw's Blog

With a tag line, "Random Observations for Students of Economics", Gregory Mankiw provides a neoclassical analysis of key global economics issues; his perspective is center-right. He was an economics advisor to George W. Bush.

3. Paul Krugman's Column

Paul Krugman provides a counter opinion to that of Mankiw; he's an opponent of tax cuts which Mankiw is in support of. Krugman is an economist in the Keynesian mold, and his column is published thrice a week.

4. Niall Ferguson's Column 

I've previously mentioned Niall Ferguson's book and recommended his Docuseries, Networld. In his column, published every Sunday in The Times (and Mondays in The Boston Globe), Ferguson provides lessons from the past to guide understanding of our current global economy.

PS: One must be a subscribing member in order to gain full access to The Times and The Sunday Times articles. However, if one registers one is entitled to 4 free articles per month. There's a fellow who spends all his free articles on Ferguson; be like that fellow.

Bonus: Black Econ Girl

For some reason they've not posted new material in the last two year.


Ceteris Paribus.

On Books That Have Shaped Me

Greetings.
It was bound to happen that some days of the #UgBlogMonth Challenge would be skipped. However, on the third day we are expected to present our favourite books. That might be too much of a challenge for me. So I'll flip the topic and list some books that have shaped my world view.
I'd like to point out I do not read a lot of novels. I mainly dabble in the "boring" ancient texts and history.

Arthur Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet

Robert Downey Jr's movies of the great detective (especially the Moriarty character) inspired me to seek out the Sherlock books. A Study in Scarlet is the first in the series, and the pseudo monologue in which Sherlock explains his "Science of deduction" was one of my best parts about the book. From deduction I appreciated the importance of data collection and the scientific method.

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment."

Niall Ferguson's The House of Rothschild

The Rothschild family were the biggest players in the nineteenth century bond market, and subsequently shaped the modern financial system. Ferguson also debunks some of the conspiracies surrounding the Rothschild family, mostly fueled by anti-semitism. My interest in economic history began with this book, and I've had to seek out other texts in Economic history like Ferguson's The Ascent of Money and Friedman's The Great Contraction.

"Rothschild . . . destroyed the predominance of land, by raising the system of state bonds to supreme power, thereby mobilising property and income and at the same time endowing money with the previous privileges of the land."

Robert Greene's The 48 Laws of Power

I forget which brother provided me with a soft copy to this book, but I recall it was among the first books I read during the A'Level vacation. Greene, like Ferguson, is an impressive researcher, and he draws on examples from texts spanning over 2,000 years of human history to make his case for laws governing strategy and man management. Once I put down this book, I sought out texts written by Herodotus, Plutarch, Miyamoto Musashi, Ovid, inter alia. This ignited my interest in classical literature.

"When you meet a swordsman, draw your sword: Do not recite poetry to one who is not a poet."

Miyamoto Musashi's The Book of Five Rings 

Miyamoto was a Japanese samurai who published his principles on strategy and honour in this text. Honour and Bushido are important to the Japanese, and any gentleman as well. Bushido code is akin to Japanese chivalry, if one may call it that. From this book, at one point I was reading haikus, although I'm yet to complete The Book of Tea.

"... there is timing in the Way of the merchant, in the rise and fall of capital. All things entail rising and falling timing."

Mathias Semakula Kiwanuka's A History of Buganda Kingdom

I read this some two years ago, as part of research for a book in which Kiwanuka was one of the subjects. The book questions some preconceived origins of the kingdom, especially those set forth by the colonial writers. From this I proceeded to seek out other texts by Ugandans (and Africans); Karugire's A Political History of Uganda (I've blogged about his description of pre-colonial trade) and Kaggwa's The Customs.

"... the growth of knowledge is after all a matter of historical recovery."

Ceteris Paribus.

#UgBlogMonth: Why Do I Write?

Greetings.
The #UgBlogMonth challenge landed in my inbox. A lot of great themes for one to write about. However - blame it on writers' block or downright procrastination- I don't think I'll be capable of posting a piece on a daily. I'll attempt to write as much as I can though.

Why do I write?

Frankly, this can be narrowed down to two basic reasons.

My primary goal for writing is "narcissism", for lack of a better way to put it. It's an opportunity to gain an excessive interest in my own opinion, and share that opinion with the rest of the world, on my terms.

The lesser reason for writing is how terrible I was at summarizing, as far back as the O'Level English exam section on summarizing. Part of me believed the information was very important, and I always believed in giving as much important information as possible. I therefore write as a challenge to myself, to provide essential information via the shortest route possible.
Perhaps it's the ghost of Narcissus in me that makes it difficult to breakdown information to essential details. I can only hope for a better fate than what Nemesis had in store for Narcissus.

Ceteris Paribus.

Reference
Ovid's Metamorphoses. Translated by Dryden et al; London, 1815

Reading (or Listening) Recommendations for the Lockdown

Greetings. It’s barely two weeks since our first confirmed case of Covid-19 and the country is in total lockdown after a series of presidential directives. The situation is very pressing to sole proprietors, small businesses and large corporate organisations. Several countries are on lock-down as well, and boy, do the LDC economies (and formerly LDC economies) love aggressive implementation of these directives. There are several videos and news stories circulating of how the lock-down and preventive measures are being implemented; from spraying chemicalsupon migrant workers in India to caning passengers in Uganda.

As we attempt to stay home and keep everyone safe, I have listed some recommended reading, video and audio material relevant (or not) for this period.

Reading materials

Buganda n’Ensimbi Zaayo by Ernest Bakaluba (translated as Buganda and its Systems of Currency). Published in 1958, the 20-page monograph details the evolution of the currency system in Buganda prior to the advent of the colonial-era rupee. From the sanga (ivory bead), to the nsinda (blue bead), and then finally to the cowrie shells. The writer also gives a conversion rate i.e. 1 nsinda was equivalent to 100 cowrie shells, etc. Luckily today in this pandemic scare, mobile money and other modern financial innovations make it possible to access money at a time when the dreaded disease could be transmitted through exchange of physical cash. 

However, Eagle Press, the publisher of the text, is no longer in existence and the only two surviving copies in the public domain can be accessed at the Africana Collection of the Makerere University Library …. I guess you have to read this once the pandemic has been mitigated.

Financialliberalisation and its implications for the domestic financial system by Michael Atingi-Ego and Louis Kasekende. Earlier this week, President Museveni appointed Dr. Atingi-Ego as the new deputy governor at the Bank of Uganda. The world of PhD-level economists in Uganda is a very small club and as such he replaces a man he has previously collaborated with on three scholarly articles, Dr. Louis Kasekende. 

Their 2003 paper published by the African Economic Research Consortium, surveyed the effects of financial liberalisation on the banking sector (conducted after the privatisation of Uganda Commercial Bank), and recommended the linking of the banking sector with the micro-credit institutions. In the following year, the Financial Institutions Act and the Microfinance Insitutions Act were enacted, with no less a referral than the two scholars. These pieces of legislation stipulated the categorisation of institutions under the bank of Uganda’s supervision, including commercial banks (tier I), credit institutions (tier II) and micro-deposit institutions (tier III).

Podcasts

50 Things That Made theModern Economy: Episode 12 – Antibiotics. The BBC is a treasure for podcasts, covering current affairs, documentaries business, history and drama. This particular podcast series tells the stories of inventions, ideas and innovations which have helped create the modern economy,condensed in sub-10 minute episodes. The episode on “Antobiotics” is very relevant in our hygiene-conscious times, charting the evolution of antibiotics and why today more antibiotics are injected in healthy animals than sick humans. 

Documentary Series

Networld by Niall Ferguson. The self-proclaimed “international man of history” has an interesting timing of his documentaries. The Ascent of Money (adopted from his book) was published around the time of the 2008 financial crisis, detailing the evolution of money and its role in business and politics. In this three-part documentary series, released in March as the Covid-19 epidemic was taking root, Ferguson explores the role of human behaviour, disruptive technology and the profit motive in changing our world. 

Adopted from his 2015 book, The Square and the Tower, Ferguson highlights how every individual has a personal social network and this will determine the probability of getting sick during this period.

Ceteris Paribus.