Sri Lanka Galle Literary festival and the exit option

Feb 25, 2008 (LBO) - Reactions to the 2nd Galle Literary Festival that very successfully concluded last month testify to the entrenched strength of statist …

Sri Lanka’s electricity pricing: slab or low-user?

Feb 18, 2008 (LBO) - The rather unusual step taken by the CEB to actually follow the law and make available for comment its proposed tariff has stirred up …

Agriculture or services for Sri Lanka’s future?

Jan 28, 2008 (LBO) - At a conference organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing, an interesting question came from the audience: what would be the most …

Sri Lankan or Mihin Lanka?

Dec 24, 2007 (LBO) - The big news is that the CEO of the airline with the highest number of flights out of Colombo and a major investor has been stripped of …

Sri Lanka eco tax could be a first step on a deadly road

Nov 09, 2008 (LBO) – "I, therefore propose to introduce an Environment Conservation Levy Act ensuring environment conservation. Individuals, businesses or …

Cars or buses? Sri Lanka’s supreme attempt to curb pollution in a transport hub

Oct 29, 2007 (LBO) - The Supreme Court is going to do to traffic in Colombo what it did to Year One admissions to popular schools.   It has ordered the …

Posts or telecom: Sri Lanka’s dysfunctional communications family

Oct 08, 2007 (LBO) - It’s a strange question.  It has always been Posts AND Telecom, even back in the bad old days when it was an inconsequential Ministry …

Taxes in Sri Lanka: limiting damage or doing good?

Sept 10, 2007 (LBO) - Once Parliament figures out what really happened when the taxation provisions were supposedly debated and passed on the 6th of …

Taxing Sri Lanka’s mobile customers: Goose or eggs?

Sept 03, 2007 (LBO) - Taxes are necessary.   The consistent theme of the “Choices” columns has been that choices have to be made; that one cannot have …

Saving Sri Lanka’s tourist industry: Peace or posters?

July 18, 2007 (LBO) - Recently the JVP trade union in the hotel industry put up posters asking for prompt government action to address the crisis in the hotel …

Is Sri Lanka running in place or falling behind?

June 22, 2007(LBO) - A little over a year ago, I wrote a column called “The Sri Lankan state: Failed, failing or maligned?” It was about a comparative …

Onymous or anonymous? Perils of economic discourse in Sri Lanka

June 12, 2007 (LBO) - The theme of this column has been public policy about infrastructure. online pharmacy buy abilify with best prices today in the USA    …

Telecenters or mobiles: Connecting families at the bottom of the pyramid

May 17, 2007 (LBO) - The theme of the 2007 World Telecom and Information Society Day (May 17th) is connecting the young.  It is difficult to connect the …

Choices: Fixed or mobile?

March 28, 2007 (LBO) - It seems like a no-brainer: A mobile phone is better than a fixed phone, especially in Sri Lanka.   The costs of getting a connection …

Choices: Calls or gold?

March 08, 2007 (LBO) - Indonesia, like Sri Lanka, sends its women to foreign lands to work as housemaids. online pharmacy buy spiriva with best prices today …

Choices: Rule of law or rule of men?

January 29, 2007 (LBO) -- What shall we make of the new 52-member, multi-party Cabinet (depicted in Figure 1) sworn in on January 28th, 2007? Source:  News …

Choices: Airline or airport?

January 4, 2007 (LBO) – It appears that the government of Sri Lanka is getting back into the airline business that it exited in 1998. According to the …

Choices: “Rusiyavata vadiya lokuyi irisiyava”

December 3, 2006 (LBO) – Recently, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission issued an order setting the maximum price that could be charged for an SMS at …

Choices: Going North or Going South?

November 22, 2006 (LBO) – The Colombo-Habarana Road is a military supply route. Those driving on it are likely to come across slow moving convoys of army …

Choices: Half full or half empty?

November 15, 2006 (LBO) – At a recent discussion on comparative rankings of economic performance, an esteemed economist decried the tendency of Sri …