Sierra Leone sits on Africa’s west coast. It was a major port for the slave trade, and is now home to 5.6 million people with a per-capita income of $1,400. The country’s economy is growing fast, though, as Sierre Leone recovers from a civil war that ended in 2002. Sierra Leone is rich in mineral… [Read More]
Blog
Paying for college: My MOOC experiment
So much of the discussion about the modern collegiate market is about online courses. Will they be cheaper than traditional courses? Will they be as effective – or more effective? What types of students will benefit the most from them? I have opinions (oh, do I have opinions!), but that’s not a substitute for data… [Read More]
The Middle East after the Arab Spring
In October, I attended a panel presentation on the Middle East after the Arab Spring at Chicago Ideas Week. You can see a video of the discussion; I had some thoughts on it from an investment perspective. It was a strong group of speakers: Bobby Ghosh of Time International, Eric Davis of Rutgers University, Rula… [Read More]
Guinea: Buried Secrets
Guinea, which is next to Guinea-Bissau (which itself has been known simply as Guinea at times, just to keep us all confused), is a former French colony with a population of 11 million people who have a per-capita GDP of $1100. Obviously, it’s a very poor country, but it sits on what may be phenomenal… [Read More]
Thomas Friedman discovers consignment stores
Oh, what do we do with Thomas Friedman? The naif let loose in the big scary world? Last Sunday, he wrote about an amazing new factor in the global economy: people selling used clothing! How he missed eBay, I’ll never know, let alone the world of consignment stores and high-end charity thrift stores. This isn’t… [Read More]
