alibomics

Do you not wonder why some roads in your country are so old yet are better than others? Your observation is not too odd. Many people have observed same.  I will lament this situation with examples from Ghana. When my family moved to Tamale 11 years have passed. The roads in Tamale township have not seen any significant repairs, at least not that I have witnessed. Occasionally though, a few spots get parched up. Currently, almost all the roads in Tamale Township which I have used since elementary school are well motor able. The road linking Bolga to Tamale is not bad either though it is quite old. However the situation has not been the same for the roads that link Techiman, Kumasi and Tamale.  These roads have for a long time been ‘decorated’ with potholes.  The road linking Accra, the capital city, to Nsawam and Nkawkaw is not just decorated but dressed in potholes. Same can be observed on the roads that link Agona Swedru to Nsaba, Oda; Bolga to Bawku, and man...

For some time now I have been wondering why taxi drivers would take same fare for a distance and half the distance.  Why should one have to pay 60p from Legon to Madina and same fare from ‘’Trinity’’ to Madina? Or why they charge 60p from the Legon police station to the campus and same from the police station to Okponglo junction. People who are price responsive and consciously match their utility to price like me may have wondered same. I have finally realised that it is in their own interest to charge according to distance covered rather than keep a flat rate for all distances. Think of the utility maximisation theory where a person equates utility to price, and will be willing to pay less for successive units of the commodity than for the earlier units.  Under this theory a consumer’s aim is to maximise utility. The consumer’s utility is maximised when the satisfaction they derive from consuming the commodity is equal to the price or cost they pay for it. ...