Luke Okafor
In the era of globalisation, fragmentation of the production process and economic interdependence, crises, such as a health crisis, a financial crisis or any other negative shock that originated in one country can spread to other countries faster and easily. This suggests that a new paradigm of thinking is needed. The application of economic tools can help in identifying better ways of addressing challenges of the 21st century. In the light of global challenges of the 21st century, this is an interesting time to study economics as well as utilise economic way of thinking to address everyday challenges and problems. Data driven economic analysis would help us to decipher appropriate policy responses to the challenges of the 21st century. For instance, to what extent could robots replace workers in the workplace? Assuming that robots displaced a significant share of the labour force, should the government introduce universal basic income? How should the government source the funds to pay for a universal basic income and so on.
Automation per se is not bad. Automation of some jobs could be in the interest of the society, while automation of almost all jobs in the absence of alternative jobs for displaced workers is hardly a good way to organise a society. For instance, automation of most dangerous and hazardous jobs would help to save lives. Governments could use tax policy strategically to encourage automation of tasks that are in the public interest. To push the frontier of knowledge forward, my research focuses on the interplay between productivity and international activities of firms, firm behavior and performance, fragmentation of the production process and firm’s strategies, determinants of international tourism flows and tourism development, determinants of migration flows, international economics and development process.