Economics is a branch of social sciences which is concerned with people’s behaviour in the course of making a living. It is about the production, distribution and consumption of wealth. Human needs and wants are numerous, but means of catering for those needs and wants are limited. Scarcity is at the centre of life.…

  An American sociologist went to do research in the Ivory Coast two years after the country had gained independence from the French Government. He visited, among other places, a village called Ebrie which was within the boundaries of Abidjan City. He spent several hours discussing the difference between change and progress. His hosts told…

  An American sociologist went to do research in the Ivory Coast two years after the country had gained independence from the French Government. He visited, among other places, a village called Ebrie which was now within the boundaries of Abidjan City. He spent several hours discussing the difference between change and progress. His hosts…

  When we read about the newly industrialised countries of the Far East (the Four Tigers), we learn that they pay extra attention to education. This education is in the form of wide or universal literacy and high scientific as well as business education. Their people acquire higher education not only in domestic institutions, but…

  Recently, a young student of journalism visited me at the office of Aggrey Memorial School and sought my opinion as to which performed better economically, the Kamuzu dictatorship era and the multiparty era. I told her that the first 20 years of the Kamuzu era ushered into the country more development than the first…

We read in the press that inflation has almost halved from what it was during the previous rainy seasons. This is attributed to the drop in prices following the bumper maize harvest. The downward trend in inflation has been welcomed by many people outside the farming industry. Some see the fall in inflation as logically…

  When our leaders say that Malawi must graduate from an importing and consuming to a producing and exporting country, other country leaders in the developing world are saying the same thing, some go beyond rhetoric and introduce measures to enable their firms to enter international trade with full blast. A few days ago, I…

  W e have often heard that Malawi must be a producing and exporting country rather than an importing and consuming country. But as of now, Malawi is not just an importing and consuming country, she produces tobacco, tea, sugar, cotton, and to a smaller extent, pulses. What then do our leaders exactly mean? We…

  When we talk of economic and social development these days, we must always begin with the position or role of the State. It is true that private sector is the engine of economic growth, but not in the laissez fair sense whereby the State confines itself to providing law and order. Unless the State…

  Once more as we approached the Independence Day, I received telephone calls. “You as one of the senior citizens (old men) of the country and as an economist, how do you assess the progress made by Malawi over 53 years of its independence?” My response was not very different this year from those I…

At the time of drafting this essay it has been announced that President Peter Mutharika has dissolved the University of Malawi Council because it has failed to solve the matter that Chancellor College staff had raised. The latter were demanding harmonisation of salaries for academic staff on the same grade in the university’s colleges after…

  Some economists when approached by the media have stated that the decline in the inflation rate means that the economy is set for a brighter future. They should have emphasised on the jargon cateris paribusmother, things or conditions remaining the same. As we all know conditions do not remain the same, at least not…

  The gaining of independence in Africa did not necessarily wean some African leaders from what they had cherished from colonial rulers, certainly not in matter of education and culture. French colonial policy to try and assimilate African intellectuals into French culture and civilisation. For instance, African leaders were elected to the National Assembly (Parliament)…

Continued from last week..   Those who honestly care for the poor should scrutinise how much the budget empowers the poor, how it will help the poor themselves. A poor country like Malawi cannot have field days that involve banquets. Instead of talking about sharing the fruits, we must start by sharing the efforts. Let…

  Those people who are interested in public affairs are eagerly waiting to see how the 2017/18 National Budget will be like. To appreciate the budget provisions, we must first acquaint ourselves with the elements of public finance, the money used by the civil service, local government and State-owned corporations. Functions of public finance The…

…continued from last Monday.. Work ethic. From time to time, one hears that Malawians are hardworking people but sometimes we spend too much time on leisure activities, sitting before a TV for several hours watching matches in Spain or North England does not contribute to development. That is about weaknesses in our national character. Now…

  The Attorney General (AG) has filed motions at the High Court in Lilongwe to vacate an injunction Rwandan convict Vincent Murekezi obtained to block his extradition case. Murekezi is wanted for genocide-related crimes back in his native country. The Lilongwe Principal Resident Magistrate Court initially set April 10 2017 to start hearing the re-application…

  The short answer to this is: by doing those things which other people have done to transform their countries from poverty to affluence. Easy to say but not so easy to do. The fact remains that achievers in the history of economic development had to borrow ideas and technologies from those who were advanced.…

  Different countries use different methods of financing social security schemes. The two general methods are social insurance and general tax revenues. Under social insurance schemes, funds are raised by taxing the employers’ payroll and making deductions from the employers’ salaries. Under the general tax, some amount is voted out of the total tax collection.…

  Social security is a term used to describe what arrangements a community or State makes to provide assistance to those of its members who are in need of the necessities of life or are entrapped in natural disasters. As I write this piece, I hear from the radio that the Vice-President Saulos Chilima has…