The film Moneyball tells the story of how a small-market Major League Baseball (MLB) team rebuilt after losing several ‘irreplaceable’ star players. Brad Pitt plays Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, who hires young economist Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) to help him put together a new data-driven approach to recruitment. Armed with the data, Beane signs a collection of new players who don’t fit the mould of textbook baseball superstars in terms of physical stature, injury records

As a young boy growing up in Cape Town, I would spend hours bodyboarding with my friends, day after day, at Muizenberg beach. I always knew there were great white sharks around; after all, Seal Island — their favourite hunting ground — was only 10km away. Surfers have a code of not talking about sharks (spoiler: it is not clear whether I really am a surfer) but I was told that the sharks didn’t come close to the shore at

After talking about the economics of planes in my two previous TFiFs, I thought it was about time I pivoted to focus on my other big interest, which is sport. So today I am going to talk about cricket, and specifically, the players’ auction in the Indian Premier League (IPL). This is a subject that has been causing some heartache for me this season, as the IPL team I support seems to have made a mess of the auction and

Now over halfway through my first year of full-time employment, detached from the education system, fully embracing those three certainties in life, the month of May has taken on a whole new meaning to me. Long gone are the days of pre-examination anxiety that plagued me for over a decade, and warmly welcomed is a commodity of indisputable value, a concept so important it stretches back to 1871. The bank holiday. As a treat for all those years of hard

According to data published earlier this month, the UK economy expanded by 0.5% in the month of February. That’s an impressive figure, particularly when you annualise it, as our friends across the pond tend to do. Annualising turns 0.5% into 6.2%! February’s growth estimate was much stronger than expected, beating the Reuters Poll consensus by 0.4 percentage points, in month-on-month terms, and that is what grabbed the headlines. But should it have done? How accurate are initial estimates of monthly

The iconic Casino de Monte-Carlo perches on a cliff in the Monte Carlo district of the Principality of Monaco, overlooking the coastline of the French riviera. Princess Caroline, the de facto regent of Monaco, officially opened the palatial gambling den in July 1865 as she sought to turn the principality’s finances around. Two towns — Menton and Roquebrune — had broken away from Monaco, taking with them their much-needed tax revenues. The casino flourished and succeeded in transforming Monaco’s economy,

Every spring, we wage war on our wardrobes, dig through drawers of tangled chargers, and maybe even feel virtuous about evicting a forgotten printer. It is a familiar ritual — a quiet act of self-renewal, part tidying up, part taking stock. And while our homes may get lighter, our systems rarely do. Economies, like attics and garages, are packed with things we no longer need: outdated subsidies, faltering industries, policies built for a different era. Some are too politically sensitive

The Milles Collines is a beautiful hotel in Kigali, perched atop one of the hills that gives Rwanda its nickname: the land of one thousand hills. The back terrace looks out onto a tropical garden dotted with bougainvillea. Today, it is an oasis of calm in a peaceful city, but it was made famous as an oasis from unimaginable violence when 1000 people sheltered there during the country’s 1994 genocide. During my recent sabbatical, in the tranquil setting among chirping

As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we are reminded both of the amazing accomplishments of the women who have come before us and the long journey ahead, before the ideal of true equality is reached. On the one hand, we may be inspired by the presence of more women in political leadership positions, while being equally disheartened by our lack of safety. And, while there have been victories along the way, it still feels as though we continue

I recall, as a boy, lying in bed late in the morning, with the bright morning sunshine pouring in through the windows, warm, relaxed and perfectly comfortable. Dozing and waking, dreaming in that delicious state of being half-asleep and half-awake. Passing hours like that. Glorious hours. Occasionally my dad would yell from another room to enquire if I’d got up yet (my mum didn’t bother: she knew the answer). The day drifted away. Maybe I’d go out later, meet friends,