Business & Economics
Labour force projections: Egypt anticipates a resumption of demographic pressures
Egyptian youths born into the ‘echo generation’ of 2006–2014 are not yet of working age, but when they do enter the labour market there will be a vast increase in the supply of workers. Professor Ragui Assaad, of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota in the US, has been estimating the effects of this increase. […]
Taming the oil price
For the foreseeable future, the world will need oil, but its price volatility makes buying and selling it a challenge for producers and the myriad manufacturers who need it. For brokers who sit in the middle of such transactions, finding the optimal price and the number of clients to spread their risk is one of their biggest challenges. Belleh Fontem, […]
Central banks and climate change mitigation: A Money View perspective
Directing financial flows on a path towards low CO2 emissions was a key objective of the Paris Agreement, but as Dr Jakob Vestergaard, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Business at Roskilde University in Denmark, observes, ‘financial flows are not on that path at all’. In his investigation of the role of central banks in climate change […]
Diverse Horizons: Investing globally in social and environmental sustainability
The issues of climate change, environmental degradation, and social inequality are growing ever more challenging. Considering these problems, global goals for sustainable development have encouraged treaties such as the Paris Agreement and the proposed Green New Deal. Mr Tony Marshall, the Founder, President, and CEO of his corporations Diverse Horizons, Inc. and The Diverse Horizons Foundation, has been diligent in […]
Uncomfortable ethics for autonomous vehicles
Self-driving cars, or autonomous vehicles (AVs), are an inevitability on our roads. That’s probably a good thing – most accidents are the result of human error. Ironically, humans will still need to programme the ’thinking’ part of an AV, especially when it’s presented with ethical dilemmas. But how important is this for AV manufacturers? Dr Tripat Gill of Wilfrid Laurier […]
The fiscal management of foreign aid in sub-Saharan Africa
Foreign aid is managed by governments whose countries are in need. Their decisions on how that money is managed greatly affect countries’ subsequent economic performance. Loujaina Abdelwahed, Assistant Professor in Economics at The Cooper Union, argues that whether aid is received permanently or temporarily is an overlooked determinant of how a recipient country’s fiscal performance reacts. She focuses her research […]
How mini refineries create business opportunities in developing economies
Petroleum refineries are a huge source of transportation fuels, lubricants, and the starting blocks for chemical synthesis. Even as alternative renewable sources for energy start to replace some demand for petroleum, it is unlikely our dependence on petroleum products and petroleum as a chemical feedstock will be broken any time soon. Dr Himmat Singh, former Chief Scientist at the CSIR–Indian […]
Why aren’t more human resource leaders champions of diversity?
Significant global groundswells of social activism over the last few years have highlighted the issue of diversity. There is now increasing pressure on organisations to address diversity, especially among leadership. Within such organisations, managing this process usually falls within the ambit of the human resource leader, so their sensitivity to issues of culture and diversity is key. Dr Lauren Turner […]
Multiresolution forecasting for commercial processes
Dr Michael Thrun and colleagues Tino Gehlert and Quirin Stier investigated data-driven forecasting techniques for commercially relevant processes, using statistical and machine learning models to investigate future uncertainties in supply chains or call centre management. They found that the new methods, using a so-called wavelet approach – which is able to take varying seasonality into account – performed well compared […]
Managing digital talent: A 21st-century challenge
With an increasing level of market activity transitioning online, and organisational processes increasingly predicated upon ‘black box’ wizardry, the people who understand these things have a special place in the competitive armoury of modern business. These people increasingly require sensitive and intelligent management which recognises the singularity of their skillset. In their new book Digital Talent Management (2021), Dr Sorin […]