Insights and Perspectives

Jan 25, 20265 min read

Decade Déjà Vu: Are the 2020s the New 1920s?

Political fragility threatens technological booms: Much like the 1920s, the current decade faces the danger of rapid technological advancement (AI) outpacing the stability of political institutions and international cooperation. Fragmentation risks AI potential: Trade barriers and a lack of data-sharing could stifle the scale AI requires to succeed, while a "K-shaped" economy—where only huge companies benefit from AI—could trigger a severe social backlash. Geopolitics is now part of the tech stack: While Western nations struggle to coordinate on data and standards, China gains a strategic advantage in the AI race through its massive unified market and fewer privacy constraints.

Insight

Jan 18, 20269 min read

A new trade wind from the West

After a quarter-century of haggling, the European Union and Mercosur bloc (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) have finally sealed a free-trade agreement. The deal creates one of the world’s largest free-trade areas, liberalising over 90% of goods exchanged between Europe and South America. It promises to slash tariffs on everything from German machinery to Brazilian beef. In Brussels and Brasília, officials tout it as a geopolitical win – a signal of openness in an era of creeping protectionism. But as Europe cosies up to Latin America, Africa is watching closely. For African economies, the Mercosur–EU pact portends both threats and opportunities in their own vital trade ties with Europe.

Why Morocco's HDI Ranking Lags Behind Its Socioeconomic Progress?

Insight

Dec 28, 20258 min read

Why Morocco's HDI Ranking Lags Behind Its Socioeconomic Progress?

The Human Development Index (HDI) is a composite measure that captures a country's average achievement in three basic dimensions of human well-being: health, education, and standard of living. It combines life expectancy at birth (for health), education levels (using mean years of schooling for adults and expected years of schooling for children), and per-capita income (usually GNI per capita) into a single index.

AfCFTA’s Early Scorecard: Continental Trade Pact Shows Promise and Pitfalls

Insight

Dec 28, 20258 min read

AfCFTA’s Early Scorecard: Continental Trade Pact Shows Promise and Pitfalls

On paper, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a game-changer: a single market of 54 countries, 1.3 billion people and over $3.4 trillion in combined GDP. It officially launched trading in January 2021 amid great fanfare. Early evidence shows a modest uptick in commerce among African nations, yet intra-African trade remains under one-fifth of the continent’s total trade – about 18% as of 2022.

Morocco’s Grey Turn: a Quiet Revolution Measured by the HCP

Insight

Dec 28, 20255 min read

Morocco’s Grey Turn: a Quiet Revolution Measured by the HCP

Some countries change with a bang—through elections, upheavals or sudden crises. Morocco is changing more discreetly, through arithmetic. The country’s latest demographic portrait, published in December 2025 by the Haut-Commissariat au Plan (HCP) and drawn from the 2024 General Population and Housing Census (RGPH 2024), reads less like a statistical annex and more like a political fact: Morocco is entering the age of longevity.