AN OPEN DIALOGUE | The Daily Star

  • What if US withdraws from WTO!

    The US threatened on several occasions in recent years to walk out from the World Trade Organization (WTO), an intergovernmental organisation that regulates international trade.

  • Twin tragedies in California

    The gigantic headline printed across the entire front page of the Los Angeles Times on November 10, 2018, all in capital letters, was meant to grab the attention of the readers.

  • Election Day on the West Coast

    I voted in the recently concluded midterm elections early in my home state before I boarded the flight to Los Angeles. It's a family trip, but there was an added incentive for me too.

  • How do uncertain global events affect Bangladesh?

    My last column “Uncer-tainty and volatility in the coming years,” published on October 27, elicited some interesting feedback on social media.

  • Uncertainty and volatility in the coming years

    As the year 2018 gradually inches towards the finish line, there are many concerns about the next year. Is economic growth going to be as good as the last?

  • Call it carbon tax, fee, or dividend!

    Human consump-tion of fossil fuel is a significant contributor to climate change. Economists have for ages been advocating for a tax on carbon emissions to combat air pollution. The tax, popularly known as “carbon tax”, is levied on products that emit carbon and is one of the measures adopted by many countries to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel in an effort to address the threat of climate change.

  • Is it a crime to question the accuracy of official data?

    UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in his 2018 SDG progress report, while reporting major achievements in some areas, also emphasised in no uncertain terms the need for reliable data.

  • The Kavanaugh Affair

    Modern democracy is based on a few principles well-known to all but always worth reiterating in order to foster growth and participation of the electorate.

  • Can coal be used for cheap energy without harming the environment?

    Climate change will hit Bangladesh, and rising temperature and sea level will affect millions in both the short- and long-term. However, it has also embarked on a path to accelerate growth and achieve middle-income status in the immediate future.

  • The challenges of SDG financing

    It is now agreed by all that financing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development programme to reach the SDG targets will be a tough challenge. On September 24, the Secretary-General of the United Nations,

  • Why do women get less pay than men?

    How long will women working the same job continue to earn less, sometimes 50 percent less, than men? And when do we expect this gap to go away?

  • Why wages don't rise with a tighter labour market

    As the US celebrated Labour Day on September 3, millions of the working majority were wondering what happened to the powerful labour unions or the promise of rising wages in a growing economy.

  • Brits in a fix over Brexit

    Prime Minister Theresa May recently was on a three-nation tour of Africa. Her first stop was South Africa, the first by a British prime minister since 2011. She then went on to Nigeria and Kenya, becoming the first British PM to visit the East African country in over 30 years.

  • Can cleaning up air (pollution) help achieve the SDGs?

    Air pollution in big cities of Bangladesh, particularly Dhaka and Chittagong, is an ongoing concern for all. Only recently, WHO ranked Dhaka's air quality as the third worst, behind New Delhi and Cairo, in a study of megacities with a population of 14 million or more.

  • Is round two of the Trump and Putin show off for now?

    The latest gossip in Washington, DC, the US capital these days is “Will they or won't they?” I am referring to the possible Trump-Putin

  • Rohingyas deserve better

    The Rohingyas who moved to Bangladesh reached an important milestone on August 25, 2018. The first anniversary of the exodus from their homeland in Myanmar was observed with solemnity in Bangladesh, Myanmar, and everywhere that the Rohingya diaspora have now spread out to.

  • Monetary policy: Some clues from Turkey

    Suppose you decide to conduct an experiment, and ask a random person you come across on a busy thoroughfare in Dhaka: “Can you tell me what Bangladesh and Turkey have in common?”

  • The challenges Pakistan's new finance minister faces

    Pakistan's founding father, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, reportedly was disappointed with the British partition of India in 1947 because it divided Punjab and Bengal. Jinnah complained that he was given to rule a “truncated and moth-eaten Pakistan.”

  • Trump's tariffs and subsidies

    There is a popular saying in America, “You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand politics.” However, I have never heard anyone disparage economists in such a fashion except only recently during the Trump Era.

  • The possible futility of Myanmar's Commission of Inquiry

    Almost one year after the recent Rohingya crisis began, Myanmar appears to be finally responding to international appeals for action.

  • Early Marriage: A contributor to “modern slavery” in Bangladesh?

    Two recent reports depicting the state of human rights in Bangladesh point to some alarming statistics. The first report, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics' “Report on Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2017”(RBSVS), came out in June 2018. Among its many findings, one relates to the prevalence of underage marriage for women.

  • The Trump and Putin Show

    President Donald Trump of the USA and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki, the capital of Finland on July 16.

  • Looking beyond family planning

    The world observed World Population Day on July 11. The theme for this year—“Family Planning is a Human Right”—was selected in recognition of the perils that women, regardless of age, face if their right to choose when and how often to get pregnant is taken away from them. It also was an occasion to recognise that both men and women have the right to choose when and how often to embrace parenthood—if at all.

  • The Turkish Presidential elections and the road ahead

    Turkey's strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is crisscrossing the globe to muster the support of the electorate in the forthcoming presidential and general elections on June 24.

  • G-7 and the leadership of Angela Merkel

    Germany has emerged as a clear leader of the European nations not only for its economic strength but also for its diplomatic acumen. At the beginning of the G-7 summit in Quebec, there was a talk about inviting Russia back to the group.

  • Price of crude oil heading for a bumpy ride

    Global oil market has been jittery the last few weeks in anticipation of two major events: the presidential elections in Venezuela and the withdrawal of USA from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) also known as the Iran Nuclear Agreement.

  • Air pollution hurts the poor disproportionately

    The photograph accom-panying an editorial in The Daily Star on April 21 spoke eloquently of the hazards facing the average citizen in Dhaka.

Top