‘Humanitarian aid has moved to the heart of the political debate’, according to Thea Hilhorst, professor of humanitarian aid and reconstruction at Wageningen University. ‘Discussions on humanitarian aid are always centred on the latest crisis. I want to address more fundamental issues’. In doing so, she is asking some difficult questions.

I am the proud father of three little boys, and have the privilege to learn a bit about human nature as I watch them grow up. Currently the oldest two, aged 4 and 6, seem to have only one thing on their minds – Pokémon. For non-insiders, I am referring to artistically decorated paper cards featuring fantasy creatures with make-believe powers of destruction. Our kids go nowhere without their collection of precious cards, and neither do their friends. It is common to see groups of children sitting together, exchanging cards and commenting on each others’ latest conquests. For them, Pokémon is real, and they are unaware of the fact that they are in the middle of an enormous hype.

The July 2007 issue of the journal Economic Policy is devoted to ‘global imbalances and aid’. Four of the papers, by economists Paul Krugman, Jeffrey Frankel, Philip Lane and William Easterly, were prepared for a special economic policy conference held in 2006 to mark the 20th anniversary of the journal. Krugman’s article, ‘Will there be a dollar crisis?’ is downloadable for free.

Biofuels for cars can help reduce CO 2 emissions, but there are drawbacks. The large areas of land needed to grow biofuel crops could threaten food production. Or nature will have to make way. The second generation of biofuels now in the pipeline are claimed to overcome these problems, but not all scientists are convinced.