Once in a while it is good to revisit older movies – as is the case with Jason Reitman’s 2009 film ‘Up in the Air’. Naturally, as the film title already suggests, it has spurred both my personal and professional interests. The story has several facets to it, as the movie touches on the difficulties…

I once heard a Nigerian saying proudly that the strength of Nigeria is its people. That statement stuck in my mind: in fact, its 170 million (or so) people makes Nigeria the most populous African country – but what did he mean exactly? A number of things come to mind: the most immediate and obvious,…

This colloquial phrase is used when something is considered impossible. That seems to be the case with the Swiss franc, which saw a major appreciation when the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced it was floating its currency. It is an excellent example for one type of exchange rate. For obvious reasons, Switzerland is a major…

Amongst other topics, the World Economic Forum in Davos will spend a considerable amount of time on the Middle East ...