William Hewlett and David Packard, who I have had the honor of meeting personally, were two very different people who together created an amazing company called Hewlett-Packard.  The two made up an entrepreneurial team: a group of entrepreneurs who together launch a new enterprise intelligently combining their capabilities. This is a situation that is becoming…

In a previous post, I talked about street vendors in Lagos. You may be surprised that street trading has been banned in the state. This is one of the first things I heard when I had just arrived here. How come street trading is banned, and you see street vendors all over? It's an indicator…

What is an ethical free rider? Working in an ethically healthy firm has enormous benefits: at the internal level of the organization one may for instance have access to more information or enjoy more freedom and larger responsibilities due to an atmosphere of trust. At the level of external relations, the good reputation may attract investors,…

Oh no, not again, more theory about what economists do!  Don’t worry;  today it’s about Charlie Chaplin and broken glass too.  The other day I read a letter to the editor in the FT titled, “Economics in just one sentence” (in the February 25, 2014 paper version).  It dealt with the question at hand -…