Dirk “I actually think my ministry should be abolished” Niebel

When Dirk Niebel, a politician of the (neo)liberal FDP, became Germany’s development minister, the amazement in the media was big. A man who once called for the abolishment of the development ministry, suddenly became its head. A kind of paradox, isn’t it?

Chinese Engagement in the Developing World

It’s interesting, how big the difference is between the approaches to developmental help of the so called “First World” on the one, and China on the other hand. And the effects of them.

On What Depends Happiness?

It isn’t straightforward for an economic research institute to evaluate a study on happiness. But, on the other hand, as you can read in my last post, it is a failure of modern economics to concentrate only on market efficiency and similar measures. Fortunately, there are economists who care about a broader spectrum of themes: for example the DIW (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung). In its new publication it evaluates a German long term study (25 years) on happiness. And they found out for which factors seem to positively affect the way we value our lives.

Efficiency vs. Well-Being

Many of today’s economists seem to forget what their actual quest are: they’re concentrating fully on efficiency of markets, instead on how to increase the well-being of societies. In this context you mostly think on the so called neoliberals, but this is a widespread disease, unfortunately.