Financial Transparency Coalition

Part 1 of 3. James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana discuss the debt problem in Africa, and their book Africa’s Odious Debts: How Foreign Loans and Capital Flight Bled a Continent.

PARIS – Greece’s ambitious programme to tackle its economic crisis can succeed in rebuilding growth, jobs and living standards if the reforms are fully implemented, according to a new OECD report.

One of the main problems underlying the current crisis in the Eurozone is that the conditions set out in the Maastricht Treaty which lay the economic foundation of the zone are not congruent with the criteria needed to form an optimum currency area. The criteria under the Maastricht Treaty namely are (i) a rate of inflation no more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of three EU members with the lowest inflation rates (ii) a ratio of the annual government deficit to GDP not to exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year or...

I live in Oregon where there is no sales tax. Before I moved here, I took the sales tax for granted. If a bottle of coke costs $1.00 then you can expect to dole out a dollar bill and some change. Now, I go to a restaurant and my bill always comes in a rounded figure. Imagine that! But I digress. The lack of a sales tax gives Oregon something of an advantage of its neighbors to the North and South. Many who live in Vancouver, Washington, for example, will venture across the border...