Saliem Fakir - Low Carbon Future
The framing problem and judgment– how to be aware of how not to frame
By: Saliem Fakir 4th December 2020 For the human mind to cope with the world, it has to develop a set of frames of the world, or what can also be called heuristics. These sets of... →
Liberty, environmentalism and corporate power
By: Saliem Fakir 6th November 2020 Individual utilitarianism is seen as primordial in conventional Western economic tradition. However, individualism does not always lead to better... →
Climate resilience: optimising strategies against uncertainty
By: Saliem Fakir 9th October 2020 Climate resilience in Africa can only be optimised if other forms of social protection work in concert. This means you may not achieve success,... →
Industrial development in Africa – from theory to practice
By: Saliem Fakir 11th September 2020 I recently participated in a panel discussion on industrial development in Central and West Africa, organised by the United Nations Economic... →
When facts matter and when they don’t
By: Saliem Fakir 7th August 2020 It is common wisdom that, if you have evidence, that evidence should speak for itself. But the history of knowledge and ‘factfulness’ shows that... →
Social engineering is not just a socialist thing
By: Saliem Fakir 10th July 2020 ‘Social engineering’ is seen in some circles as a swear phrase and associated with socialism – meaning surrendering individual sovereignty into... →
The Michael Moore view of the world
By: Saliem Fakir 12th June 2020 Michael Moore’s documentary, Planet of the Humans (a play on the Anthropocene age), following his namesake, Roger Moore, in the James Bond 007... →
Economic lessons from Covid-19
By: Saliem Fakir 8th May 2020 The current pandemic is not a black swan. Those who have been warning about it call it a white swan. Human history is replete with episodes of... →
Economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic
By: Saliem Fakir 10th April 2020 There is a lot to learn from the Covid-19 pandemic for climate change, both in terms of how systemic disruption in one part of the world can... →
Why I don’t aspire to be a Twitterati
By: Saliem Fakir 27th March 2020 Somebody asked me the other day if I had a Twitter accounT. I have never fancied myself as a serious fan of Twitter. I am quite cautious about... →