Figures of the week: The state of Africa’s economic powerhouses (Mariama Sow, Brookings)

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2016/08/24/figures-of-the-week-the-state-of-africas-economic-powerhouses/

In the marijuana industry, size doesn’t always matter (John Hudak, Brookings)

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/fixgov/posts/2016/06/29-big-marijuana-industry-size-corporate-structure-hudak

Encryption debate proves technology is not magic (Jack Karsten, Darrell M. West, Brookings)

For centuries, science fiction writers have thrilled audiences with their visions of the future. Now technology companies deliver their own vision through new products and services. Technology is often promoted as a sudden arrival from the future, rather than an accumulation of research and development over time. No effort is made to explain how a new gadget works, the physical and digital mechanisms behind its functions. Without this explanation, consumers and policymakers are apt to view technology simply as magic with limitless capabilities. In reality, innovations build incrementally on what has come before—they do not perform miracles. Ignorance of how technology develops and functions will lead to poor policy decisions.

http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/techtank/posts/2016/04/26-encryption-technology-is-not-magic