A short but alarming post by Jack Stilgoe on the Demos [UK] webloblog: Harare 2 - Everyone's an economist:
"Everyone's an economist," Lawrence tells me as we drive from Harare airport. We overtake an overcrowded minibus, full of people trying to make the most of what petrol can be found. On the back of the bus, a banner says "Opportunity Cost!" On the front, it says "Demand Elasticity!" If "Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them" (A N Whitehead), then Zimbabwe's economy needs a nudge. At the moment, for it to work at all, everyone needs to be involved.
Zimbabwe's is an economy going rapidly backwards. Its size has halved in the last 8 years. Unemployment is between 70 and 80% (although the Government hilariously claims it is "pegged" at 9%). Inflation, the ever-optimistic local newspaper tells me, is now down to 900%. Two rates of exchange exist. Unofficially, Western cash will earn you four or more times the offical exchange rate. Those with money or stuff to sell are forced to reinvent markets every week. Petrol is driven over from Mozambique and sold for whatever people will pay. The cashpoints can't be filled quick enough to dispense the doorstops of notes required to buy almost everything. Things will get better, everyone tells me. The taxi back to the airport costs me 4.5 million dollars.
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