In Part 1, I showed that Senegal's structural transformation has produced employment reallocation without productivity gains. Workers left agriculture, cities grew, and GDP rose, but they moved into low-productivity informal services rather than manufacturing or high-value activity. The question that follows naturally is: is this because Senegal's workers aren't educated enough? It's a reasonable hypothesis. Tertiary enrolment sits at just 17%. Quality-adjusted years of schooling are well below what Senegal's income level would predict. If skilled workers are genuinely scarce, that scarcity would suppress the productivity upgrading the economy needs.

Senegal gained independence from France in 1960 and has since struggled to translate economic expansion into sustained per capita growth. Between 1960 and 2024, both GDP and population grew exponentially, with population growth systematically absorbing economic gains and suppressing per-capita income improvements for over three decades

I just finished reading Dani Rodrik's 2005 paper "Growth Strategies," and as often with his papers I was left feeling like I understand the world a little better.  Rodrik doesn't side with one or another development strategy. Instead, he makes a nuanced argument about what to do with all of them. He argues that successful reforms are built around economic principles tailored to local capabilities, constraints, and opportunities, and the hard part is figuring out which constraint is the binding one in a specific time and place.

While climate change mitigation is ostensibly ‘for’ developing countries, many are simultaneously deeply dependent on the very industries that must be phased out. Arsel's lecture examines this tension through both theoretical frameworks and empirical observation, asking: what happens to these countries in a post-carbon world?

This essay argues that while degrowth and spaceship economy models raise important concerns about environmental limits, both face significant constraints in political feasibility and risk imposing disproportionate costs on economies in the GlobalSouth.

We used to think that poor countries would eventually catch up with the rich ones.

Nevertheless, since the Industrial Revolution, we can see that the opposite is true and poor countries today are lagging further behind than ever. 

In the Globalization Paradox, Dani Rodrik names many aspects of hyperglobalization that hinder the development of developing countries. He mentions: “Unlike the GATT, which left poor nations essentially free to use any and all industrial policies, the WTO imposes several restrictions (page 198).” Among these restrictions on industrial policy, Rodrik mentions export-processing zones (that helped with the development of Mauritius, China, and many countries in Southeast Asia), policies that require firms to use more local input (domestic content requirements), and patent and copyright laws.

When it comes to books like Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, people usually fall into two camps. Those who read them to look smart at networking events, and those who avoid them out of spite for the ‘white males with beards’. I think both camps are missing the point and so are missing out on an experience worth rethinking these stands. 

I just finished reading a book by Ray Fisman and Miriam A. Golden called Corruption: What Everyone Should Know. The book’s subtitle — what everyone should know — implies that a basic understanding of corruption as a societal phenomenon is something all of us should have in order to fight against it. For this reason, this blog is written in a way that should be understandable even without any economics or social science background.

This essay draws on insights from the course The Dissident Mind taught by Lucie Zicha. It explores concepts of intellectual submission under totalitarian rule, particularly the Totalitarian Mind, the Ketman, and the Dissident Mind, and applies them to problems in contemporary academia.

If you have been reading the news, seen videos on social media, or have that one rich uncle that gives you advice once a year on Christmas, you have come across quotes like these:

How do we distinguish the effects of institutions from those of the conditions that give rise to them in the first place ?

The Buddhist tradition rejects the idea of “The Self” as a unique and permanent subject. The concept of Anatman means that “I” is only a momently reflection of the five randomly aligned realities in time and space which create a superficial sense of identity.

Translated a short story I wrote in 2020 for my Czech creative writing seminar:

I just came out of Máj onto Národní. I’m trying to reach tram stop number 17 – National Theatre. Hopefully, I'll meet my friends from my planet there, and we will be able to see our homeland again. I set out an hour and a half ago, and yet I still haven’t moved from the spot. I always take three steps, and then a strong wind rises.

The blog discussion between Branko Milanović and Jason Hickel on degrowth brings up some interesting insights into the notion of degrowth by two highly influential academics who both agree that decarbonization is needed yet disagree on how it should be achieved.

This blog will outline the key arguments of the two authors on degrowth and evaluate the feasibility of their ideas in terms of policy implementation.

Most mornings, I struggle to get out of bed and be productive. Despite this, I still wake up relatively early, work hard, and often sacrifice immediate pleasures for the future betterment of myself, a better life for my future children, the prosperity of my community, and who knows what else. So, can I skip setting an alarm for tomorrow morning?

In the past 40 years, China has undergone a remarkable economic transformation, positioning itself as a potential global hegemon. A key factor behind this extraordinary growth has been the reform of China's exchange rate system, which enabled the nation to emerge as the world's factory while effectively fending off speculative attacks on its currency. In this blog, I will provide a simplified explanation of this pivotal process that has reshaped the global economic landscape.

Are your political leaders doing everything in their power to help the "developing world," or are they "kicking away the ladder"?

Education is widely recognised as a crucial contributor to, and part of, prosperity in any country, coming with a variety of both extrinsic and intrinsic values. Due to this, millions of euros are annually invested into a variety of international development projects focused on improving education