temark, this is the vice president of the london conservative party, the chancellor of the institute of economic research in london, we congratulate you, mr. oleksandr . fully supports ukraine, and great britain, after the united states and the european union, is the third, very large and significant jurisdiction that provides the greatest assistance to ukraine, and i think that after the united states of america, it is the second a country that actually provides financial military and humanitarian aid to ukraine at the moment, and it turns out to be a huge political aid to great britain, regardless of the supplies of russian gaza and the supplies of active russian energy sources ah, that's why we don't have such big problems. we have really traditional high prices for energy sources. they are always traditionally higher than in the european union, and in many other countries, including america , but ah we have other compensatory measures that protect consumers from rising prices in great britain, a long time ago , we decided not to depend on hydrocarbon fuel and to switch to green energy, so this is not

of the world economy slows down the economic development of the world as a whole p igor, thank you for this detailed explanation ihor borokovsky was with us, the heads of the institute of economic research political consultations, we talked about the risk of a new world economic crisis caused primarily by russian aggression against ukraine, and i have another news from poland, the spending of the authorities and citizens of poland to support ukrainian refugees this year will exceed 25 billion zlotys, that is 5.3 billion dollars. this is almost 1% of the country's gdp, according to bloomberg, in the first three months after the start of the war, the poles have already spent 10 billion zlotys on aid and will spend more in poland, initially russian invasion of ukraine over two million ukrainians settled in ukraine their support was not only from the authorities e.e. ukrainians were supported massively by poles many of whom accepted refugees in their homes in total 70% of polish citizens took part in providing aid to ukrainians for which we are sincerely grateful to them it was the news of the economy during the war. i am andrienitsy tv channel espresso. watch us on weekdays at eight in the

now we will have a guest on skype, ihor burakovsky, the head of the institute of economic research andonsultations, mr. ihor was personally at the conference last week, and today we will learn the details of how the conference took place , including such household who is interested in any person like me. congratulations, igor. congratulations , mr. andrii. so, logistically, the conference in luhansk is even difficult to imagine how it was possible to get there to get there, how was your route, how many transfers did you have to make, how many days did the journey take, to put it very briefly? my route consisted of three main parts. the first part is the most difficult - to get to the city of krakow, and i traveled this distance by bus. by the way, i used the services of a ukrainian carrier, there will be no to advertise, but that means, uh, i got to kraków in about 20 or so hours . from kraków to milan by plane, and from milan directly to lugano by train. it was the easiest part of the move why because it took 20 hours and although you were crossing the border between switzerland and t

here we just had a new number from the german institute of economic research showing that you are with low off gas to germany, 20 percent as it is right now, there is a relatively high change to go through the winter, but it's clear that you emergency plans and the different legislation, the german government has inactive to reduce, the mob will help us to really go through the winter without for the products. right. and that's a russia has fewer customers for its energy, but prices are going up. so with this is this tactic making the money or losing money? yeah, i think that's a rational strategy. if you're a dominant supplier, of course you're trying, you're trying to cut the supply in order to drive up the prices. but i think the european answer should be that we are asked for for me, or using our market power on the demand side, a 75 percent. busy off the pipeline market and i think now it is really the time to think about possibilities to step in and trust, dictate prices, and not pay these incredibly high prices that have no attachment to reality. and if russia turns the tops off

>> we just had new numbers from the german institute of economic research showing that even with a rucedlow of gas to germany, 20% as it is right now, there's a relatively high chance to go through the winter. but it is clear that eu emergency plans and different legislation the german government has reacted -- has enacted will help us to really go through the winter without further problems. phil: so russia has fewer customers for its energy, but prices are going up. so is this tactic making them money or losing the money? >> i think that is a rational strategy if you are a dominant supplier. you are trying to cut the supply order to drive up the prices. but i think the european answer should be that we are using our market power on the demand side. europe is the biggest demand. it has bought 75% of the pipeline market. i think now is really the time to think about possibilities to step in and dictate prices and not pay these incredibly high prices that have no attachment to reality. phil: and if russia turns the taps off completely, do you see that as being likely? >> this is one possi

iryna kos is a senior researcher at the institute of economic research and dmytro solomchuk, a people'sof the verkhovna rada's committee on agrarian and land policy. not only our safety depends on it, but the safety of the whole world has turned out, and here everything depends on the truthfulness of our economic conductors, so to speak, so that this score is played so that we are in the maximum gains because the russians, so to speak, unblocked three of our ports. well, let's hope that they unblocked them like that, not because they are so nice or they are so diplomatic, because they began to be taxed from all sides and they traded on this for something for themselves, the specific cancellation of that part sanctions well, accordingly, we should play the same way, although we play like that, maybe we just don't know with you, in any case, from this conversation, i came to the conclusion that our domestic market is one situation, and the external world market is a completely different story and the price of ukrainian grain in order for ukrainian farmers to be able to sell it is not high

so this is indicated by such reviews, as it seems , yesterday, the institute of economic research released a business survey in mid-june, which is about such a recovery trend, and i myself will take the opportunity to business hubs and conferences in lugano to talk with individual entrepreneurs and it's really amazing how smart and dynamic ukrainian businessmen are -e during e-e of the russian occupation of this city, he has already bought out an unfinished business center in lviv oblast and is finishing it, that is, ukrainian business is so trained by its history to survive that even in these circumstances it can work miracles, we really regularly show business created by immigrants from the east and from the south of our country in western ukraine, the truth prevails, we are talking about small business, and which industry suffered the most from the russian invasion, maybe you can segment there agribusiness, metallurgical, you know, i think you just mentioned ferric iron, but obviously metallurgy, rolling stock, it’s clear here that the giants are the ones that suffered, in particular, m

indicate to us such reviews, as it seems, yesterday i issued a business survey to the institute of economic researchh recovery trends, and i myself will have the opportunity to speak at the business hub conference in lugano by individual entrepreneurs and it's really surprising how well the schemes and engines are uh-uh there are ukrainian businessmen , i'll give you an example like this of this city, he has already bought out an unfinished business center in the lviv region , and he is finishing it, that is, ukrainian business is so educated by its history to survive that even in these circumstances, it can create a dyvak, it is true that we regularly show a business that immigrants from the east and south of our country are created in western ukraine, the truth is predominant, we are talking about small business, and which industry suffered the most from the russian invasion , maybe you can segment there agribusiness, e.e. metallurgical, you know, i think you just mentioned iron hydrogen, but obviously metallurgy it is clear here that the giants are the ones that suffered in particular in mariupol

this was the conclusion reached at the institute of economic research and political consultations basedn the results of the second monthly survey of enterprises, what do you think improved this trend and can we say that it will continue to improve the situation for business in ukraine, who are these ukrainian people, they will work yes, now it is morning here, but there is a house opposite me and people are doing repairs in it, you understand why, here is a specific example, yes, or we were there yesterday from under the city of kyiv, we tried to look. well, just to friends we went there and saw that cafes and restaurants are already starting to open. yes, they have very few customers, but it's good that they work, so the economy will work, people will work. and it's good that we see it in numbers and not only in such examples of specific human stories. that business improves expectations, we can talk. i understand that here we are already entering the field of military experts, but we can talk about the fact that the situation in the country is stabilizing, that is, the front line has

it is clear that there is a long history there, and the director of the institute for socio-economic research of the financial university under the government of russia is in touch with us alexey nikolaevich zubets alexey nikolaevich we welcome you. good afternoon. good afternoon. let me give you one more quote. uh, the eu ambassador scanned ukraine hmm summarized. uh, the state of the ukrainian economy is not a default. uh, but the situation is catastrophic, he said, and including, uh, this concerns the situation in the banking sector, and in the food market. again, in anticipation of what will happen in autumn a, and hmm , economists are also worried, including ukrainian ones, in particular european ones, and of course the situation with the ukrainian national currency and increased activity of the printing press. here is what can be said here, therefore, on the occasion and how you can comment on the words of the eu ambassador to ukraine well, you know, ukraine was moving towards a pre-bankruptcy or bankruptcy state even before the start of special operations, and in principle, here is my

more and more problems every day, the economy is already on the verge of a recession, warned the munich institute for economic research, and workers of the luf ganza airline are expecting a transport collapse this week, the largest in the country went on strike and demanded higher wages. inflation is growing rapidly britain's situation is no better the garden newspaper reports that pensioners have to return to work in order to have something to pay for food and utilities. but in winter, spending will become even more above in poland, they have already announced heat supply, according to forecasts, will rise in price by several hundred percent and the authorities are seriously urging citizens to get ready that the temperature in their homes will not be normal greece does not agree with such savings measures and will demand to exclude the country from the european commission's plan to reduce natural gas consumption, and in france panic in grocery stores after media reports of a possible french mustard shortage. sold out all with calculated till december technology development to make it to others vladimir putin 18 july

for one year, i spoke with myself, roger about that he said of the german institute for economic research in berlin and asked if such demands could indeed lead to rising consumer prices. there's certainly a danger that wages could rise too quickly and to too much. but there's also risk that wages are increasing too little. that's equally threatening because if wages increase very little people will have less purchasing power will consume less and they will also be bad for companies and bad for employment and might also drive the economy into recession. so it's about finding the right middle way. 8 percent a which claims by ag, me tire is in my view, not excessive. we know historically they agree on 60 percent of what's being asked . that would be below 5 percent wage increase with an inflation rate of 78 percent for this year. this still means negative, we wage growth, so i don't see this as excessive but, but clearly one has to differentiate across sectors and companies. do you believe that the danger of a wage price spiral has grown or that it even exists? a given for example, the tight

of energy poverty. that's according to the cologne institute for economic research. the reports calculated that's a quarter of germans have spent 10 percent of the household income on energy. that's almost double compared to last year. energy poverty threatens loaners and households facing financial difficulty. and as gas prices rise in europe, the u. s. continues to push europeans to cut their energy usage. this comes against the backdrop of a price crunch that has increased oil and coal production contradicting europe screen agenda sees shout, davinsky has more. tackling time it changes a perennial issue for the g 7 before the war in ukraine. it was meant to be the main focus of this year's summit in bavaria. however, not only was it knocked from top sport, it was positively trampled on. now, here is a conundrum. you have a scoop of journalists that you need to get up a mounting for a sustainability announcement. there's a bus that can travel by rote, or there's a military helicopter. when you're trying to show the world that you care about the environment, which on

of resources within the you . what area i spoke to sandra flock from germany's e phone institute for economic research. and i asked her how you are if it becomes so reliant on raw materials from unreliable partners? yes, i am. in principle over all firms have offshore to a great part of low value added steps of the production process. we choosing priest po, a very good strategy if this is combined with a diversification of suppliers. ah, but what we see is that for many intermediate goods and materials, they use reliant on fuel producers, which implies a higher dependency as well. that so this realization seems to becoming a, a, a bit too late, isn't it? wow. i wouldn't say too late because in the next 2 years we were, we are going to see an increasing demand for a several raw materials. so we have showing in our study, ah critic, overall materials that are germany and d, you need for the production of key technologists such as electric motors and wind turbines and to if the demand for these products increase. also the demand for all materials increase. ah, and so, so there is a is to you are high need

this, this is confirmed by ivan usk candidate of economic sciences, the chief consultant of the center for foreign policy research of the national institute of strategic studies, who was our guest, thank you very much, we will now show you a few of these short video materials, and then we will have another story about women in the army , so that you don't think about no matter what ukrainians talk about, the first place is still war, war and our victory, seven days a week from monday, monday, seven different spheres of human activity, sports, culture , politics, eight express presenters, journalists experts opinion leaders in real time about the most relevant events through the prism of war every day author's projects nayspresso three months of preparation official licenses contracts government decisions and finally, for the first time in ukraine, modern foreign combat equipment for the armed forces is bought by volunteers and benefactors 11 armored vehicles for landing 11 combat vehicles for the offensive of real superheroes , 50 million hryvnias have already been collected, 45 more are needed, community affairs is collecting 45 million,

joining me now is pauljohnson, director of the leading economic research group the institute for fiscaling, trying to define each from each other, over whether the cuts taxes and borrow money to pay for it, or cut taxes by reducing public spending. what is the case for tax cuts at the moment, given the state of the economy? ta)»: for tax cuts at the moment, given the state of the economy? tax cuts are alwa s the state of the economy? tax cuts are always better— the state of the economy? tax cuts are always better than _ the state of the economy? tax cuts are always better than tax - are always better than tax increases, that is something that we would all probably prefer. given where we are at the moment, i think there are two key problems with tax cuts. 0ne there are two key problems with tax cuts. one is that there is lots of pressure on public spending, we have huge waiting lists on the nhs, as well as, of course, demand for public sector pay increases that at least approach inflation. 0n the other hand, we have got very high levels of inflation, and if you are going to cut taxes and

understand that this is confirmed by the candidate of economic sciences, the chief consultant of the center for foreign policy research of the national instituteategic studies, who was our guest, thank you very much, we will now show you some of these short video materials, and then we will have another story about women in the army about so that no matter what ukrainians think about, no matter what they talk about, it doesn't matter

institute of economics affairs, the free market think tank. also with me is anand menon, the director of uk in a changing europe, which produces independent social science researchi—story only as you can imagine. let's start with the ftu which says that boris johnson let's start with the ftu which says that borisjohnson was defiant to the end as he announced his resignation. the evenings leave is the metro headline, they play on the famous brexit tory slogan of course. according to the mirror boris johnson and his wife are planning to old ones last party at checkers to celebrate their wedding, clinging one less party, it says. the male has a photograph of borisjohnson being consoled his wife, the paper highlights angerfrom being consoled his wife, the paper highlights anger from some mps that mrjohnson has been forced out what the hell that they done? finally, the hell that they done? finally, the times says the prime minister has thrown in the towel, starting a bitter succession contest. welcome to you both. not a lot of time this time. annabelle, let's go to the ft. johnston quits, defiant to the end. defiant and angry until the end. yes, it was a pretty bitte

let's speak to carl emmerson — who's deputy director of the institute for fiscal studies — which is a leading economic researchntenders meet going to be paid for? iuntimely meet going to be paid for? when rishi sunak _ meet going to be paid for? when rishi sunak was _ meet going to be paid for? when rishi sunak was chancellor, i meet going to be paid for? when rishi sunak was chancellor, we l meet going to be paid for? “finery rishi sunak was chancellor, we saw considerable tax rises some of which we have already experienced, ahead of us, big rise in corporation tax next april, a freeze in the point at which income tax and higher rate income tax kick in. there is substantial funds for the government over the next few years. the question, why was he doing that, a combination of on the spending side, he wanted to spend more on things like the nhs and social care, he wanted an end to austerity, the government did not want to be doing spending cuts elsewhere, and secondly, there was a desire to get the deficit, government borrowing down to normal levels, a desire not to cut spending but to increase elsewhere and it

of negative gdp thing is a common layman's definition. what happens in the real world is that a nonpartisan institution called the economic bureau of researchs when a recession begins and ends, and it won't do so for a while because he considers all the data. as the president pointed out, what is going on in the jobs market, what is going on with consumers, what is going on with investment. after all that is said and done, usually months, maybe even a year later, they come in and tell us whether we were in a recession or not. so it is a very technical issue. this two quarters thing is just shorthand. >> let's take a look at the charts. you talk about the u.s. economy contracting again, but you take a little closer look at what that means. >> sure. so first, let's just grab a little bit of history. the solid red line is how the gdp overall has been performing for the last 18 months. as you can see, for the last year, since 2021 we have had very significant growth. we have actually had 5.7% growth. as the president has pointed out on many occasions, that is an exceptionally high rate of growth. it obviously had to do with coming out of the pa

there is an independent institution that will act as an arbiter in this process - this is the national bureau of economic research, but its conclusion will be made public a little later on whether there is a recession or not. for now, let's listen to baida's answer to criticisms of the recession. our labor market remains historically strong our economy has added more than nine million jobs since i became president more than a million jobs were added this quarter our unemployment is 3.6%. is approaching a historically low level of consumption, the business engines of our economy continue to move forward, there is no doubt that growth will be lower than last year, but this corresponds to the transition to stable and sustainable growth oksana, how does the economic situation in the usa compare with other countries, and to what extent was it affected by russian aggression in ukraine indeed ostape is currently very difficult to find a region in the world that would show strong economic growth. this week we saw a new imf report that issued gloomy and uncertain forecasts for the world economy and the imf also lowered th

of resources within the u. let's discuss this little bit further in about how you're going to this point by speaking to liz, under aflac, from germany's ether institute for economic research is great to have you on d w business just to explain to us how europe has found itself so reliant on other countries and potentially countries with, you know, had an un unreliability to them on key raw materials. yeah. for him in principle over all firms have off short term great part of low value added steps of the production process. we choosing priest po, a very good strategy if does this combine? we have far davis vacation of suppliers. ah. but what we see is that for many intermediate goods and materials, the use reliant on fuel producers are which implies a higher dependency as well that so yeah, this realization since becoming a, a bit too late, isn't it? wow. i wouldn't say too late because in the next years we were, we are going to see an increasing demand for a several raw materials. so we have showing in our study, ah, critical raw materials that are germany and the you need for the production of key technologies such as electric motors and wind turbines and to if the deman

institute of economics affairs, the iea, the free market think tank. also with me is anand menon, the director of uk in a changing europe, which produces independent social science researchank you for coming back. we had a race of the first look at the papers. we've got so much time now so we so we have much more time. lets start with the ft — which says borisjohnson was "defiant to the end" as he announced his resignation. "leave means leave" is the metro's headline — a play on the famous tory brexit slogan. according to the mirror — that borisjohnson and his wife are planning to hold one last party at chequers. the daily mail has a picture of borisjohnson being consoled by his wife carrie. the paper highlights anger from some mps that mrjohnson has been forced out. next to the times that says the prime minister has thrown in towel — starting a bitter sucession contest. the telegraph reports on the calls from senior tories for a caretaker leader to avoid months of political uncertainty and finally the i says 11 tories are considering a run for the top job. let's kick off again. annabelle, can i start with you? we've got the guardian in now. bracket is almost over and ev

bob ward from the grantham research institute on climate change at the london school of economics joinscientist and a great _ much else. of course. he was a great scientist and a great mentor, - scientist and a great mentor, studied chemistry, and it was really his independent thinking, his refusal to be bound by traditional barriers and divides that led him to these great insights about the interdependence between life on earth and the earth itself, the physical environment. but it was that weight training and particularly his time at nasa when he was involved in the attempt to look at whether there would be life on mars, that led lovelock to have his hypothesis about the rather particular state of the earth where our temperature had been remaining relatively stable and led into hypothesise that there was life on earth that was a regulation of the earth�*s temperature to keep it habitable for life. and that was a very deep insight and a very independent approach to science. i was fascinated to see also that it was fascinated to see also that it was his experiment, his way of showing ma

of the largest financial institutions in the world. they wantd.f more of this. >> it's what ghana has achieved, a near perfect esg environmental impact score ofvi ninety seven pointro seven . according to world economic research. sri lanka has an easy score of ninety eight point one , the netherlands nineteen point seven . so the poorer you get , the more human suffering there is , the higher your esg score. and that's important because companies will not invest unless you have a high esg score. interesting. so these countries have noex choice. and that's why southd africa, for example, worked so get hardo get an fauci score that nowbe totals ninety one .ga that effort began in 2015 whenre south africa switched to renewables. w? how does that work like everything in south africa, no one in america really wants to know. it is country. >> it's a huge success. looks lifelike in south africa for people off all colors it stop. p well,la the guardian of all places reported at the time we're quoting solarnd, biomass and wind energy systems are popping up all over t the county and feeding the clean energy into the strained electrical grid. so that grid been fallinglect at since 1994. but no problem. the green energy

researcher for the south african chapter on the southern african trade institute. before the break, we were discussing the implications of the, of this conflict, the, as well as the globalized economic and political system for russia, for europe, for the united states. now let's turn our attention to africa and i recently came across a great quote from a q one this year in play, right. and boys and the, the 1st off the heroine recipient. they've been noble prize in literature. who said that a tiger does? no child is tied to it act. i wonder if part of the problem or part of the nation with the math that the world is in right now, is it for you? long, humane in countries pretended to act rather than active and whether it be the crisis as best as it is, would force governments around the world to actually take the own decisions in the best interest of that old people. rather than referring out or discerning jasmine to the so called neo lee when you opened about that, you mentioned before, i think for africans the situation is such that we're in a position of great dependency. and i think russia needs to appreciate what great dependency we are in. now, most of our countries i needed to

research associate at overseas development institute in london. he joins us now from colombo, thanks for being with us here on al jazeera, now with the politics of this economic collapse it's, it's easy to lose sight of the plight of the people themselves. can you describe just how bad the situation is? so yesterday saw people who were hungry and living, essentially on one meal a day. and having spent a long time the better cuz maybe 3 nights, plus 3 my picture cues went in their frustrations on the government in power. and it's a timely reminder that corruption and mismanagement have political consequences. the free lunch and economy has been undergoing something called speculation, which is a contraction, as well as 50 percent inflation. some of this is spot by the russia, ukraine conflict, and the timid recovery from the economic effects of covey but mismanagement, has been an important feature. for instance, the not darby roger, but the government announced tax cuts in 2019, which has devastated revenues just as the economy needed resources to fight the problem of covey. in addition, there was this dramatic switch from chemical to organic fertilizer. and

researcher for the south african chapter, hold the southern and east african trade institute, react before the break. we were discussing the implications of this conflict, the, as well as the globalized economic and political system for russia, for europe, for the united states. now let's turn our attention to africa and i recently came across a great quote from i q one does a playwright and boys and the different stuff, the heron recipient don't been nobel prize in literature. who said that a tiger does not shout it's hybrid ass. i wonder if part of the problem or part of the explanations with the math that the world is in the right now is that for too long too many countries pretended to act rather than acted. and whether these crisis, as best as it is with force governments around the world to actually take their own decisions in the best interest of that old people, rather than referring or diverting judgment to the so called neo leap or new york on about that. you mentioned for, i think, for africans the situation is such that we're in a position of great dependency. and i think russia needs to appreciate what great dependency we are in. now. most of our countries on that to northern cou

institute for space research in brazil, which authored the report on the scale of amazon deforestation. i asked her what drives the culling of the world's largest forest. it's like 50 years ago, the idea for economiche wood, create the cattle and sell the beef. and, more essentially, after 2003, the soybean arrived in the amazon. and today, this scenario is terrible, it's terrible. because these people have the vision that economically, this is the unique choice. but it's not! we know how the community that lives there can have economic activities without destroying the forest. but this is a very hard time in brazil where the science is not listed. we are like the enemy, you know, because we are saying that this is not the way, this is terrible for brazil and the whole world. the consequences in destroying the forestry is major for everywhere. we are accelerating the climate change. and why is it getting so bad, though, what is the issue? why is it so much worse than it previously was? what we understood in our study was the correlation between deforestation and the carbon emissions from the amazon. when you — because the trees participate in the precipitation formation. during this process, the c

of uscirf, whether caused by the government action or inaction cannot be unchallenged. research has found that countries to uphold religious freedom have more vibrant democratic political institutions, rising economic social well being, diminished tension and violence, and greater stability. nations that travel on or failed to protect basic human rights, including religious freedom, provide fertile grounds for poverty in and insecurity, war on terror and violent radical movements and activities. let me now turn the floor over to commissioner schneck to speak about commissions reporting and some of the key recommendations. comm. schneck: thank you, chair turkel. uscirf's reporting focuses on two groups of countries. those we recommend the state department designate as countries of particular concern, or cpc's, and those that we recommend the state department place on its special watch list, or swl. under irfa, cpc's are countries whose governments engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom. the swl is for countries where the violations meet two, but not all three of the systematic, ongoing and egregious test for cpc status. in our 2022 annual report, whic

. _ earlier, i spoke to carl emmerson, who's deputy director of the institute for fiscal studies which is a leading economic researchpredicated on nothing like current levels of inflation and nothing like the kind of pay deals many public sector workers might be expecting. it could well be that if you want to give public—sector workers bigger pay deals than perhaps anticipated last autumn you may need to find more money for public services not less. certainly keeping to those existing spending limits be challenging. one of those candidates pledging tax cuts is grant shapps. earlier i spoke to the conservative mp george eustice, the secretary of state for the environment food and rural affairs. he's backing mr shapps and i asked how the transport secretary would fund those cuts if he became prime minister. there is a lot of pressure on the cost of living and low income households are struggling because of inflationary pressures and we should bring forward a tax reduction... tax cuts add to inflation, put more money in people's pockets adds to inflation. they don't because if you borrow money to fund tax cuts, yes, th

particular ways of thinking feeling and reasoning but the key question is what are the institutions and why did they emerge so as and then as i dug into the research new studies in economics began to appear or continue to appear and i was convinced that i could maybe address a second puzzle and this is you know, another version of adam smith's famous question. how can we account for the rapid economic growth and the acceleration of innovation after 1750 that emerged in some european populations and their cultural descendants in north america? i suspect that the convergence. or at least some of the convergence between weird and highest contribution lies in our similar points of departure. as john mentioned we begin with a recognition that humans are a kind of aid. subject to nepotistic and tribal instincts as well as a cultural species capable of acquiring an internalizing a wide range of norms, including those that can lead to profitable and mutually beneficial transactions with strangers. and anonymous others looking back at high acai was truly an intuitive cultural evolutionist. we now know from quite a bit of research that humans unlike other species are born cultural