Fear: A Blessing and Curse

IT as Curse and Blessing

Menstruation: curse or blessing?

Cleansing or curse? Menstruation in our lifetime has been commonly called ‘The Curse’. Our sisters in the 16th century, however, welcomed this cleansing as a fertility sign from God, through the moon that determined the tides of all that flowed on the earth. These tides included the four humorous fluids that made up each of us and determined, by balance, the health of an individual. Ancient med...

Arbitrage Opportunities: a Blessing or a Curse?

This paper shows that arbitrage is limited if rational agents face uncertainty about completing their arbitrage portfolios. This “execution risk” arises in our model because there are slippages in asset prices as arbitrageurs compete for the limited supply of assets needed for a profitable arbitrage portfolio. This is distinct from the existing limits of arbitrage such as noise trader risk, fun...

Natural Resources: A Blessing or a Curse?

It is commonly assumed that countries are blessed if they have an abundant reserve of natural resources. Poorer countries may be jealous of the luxurious living standard that comes from oil in the Middle East, which seems to be an easy success. At the same time, we are amazed at how gold and diamonds are concentrated in African countries through our classes in geography. However, despite such h...

Geo-engineering: a curse or a blessing?

SUMMARY In recent years, geo-engineering has been suggested as a viable strategy in dealing with climate change, the main indicator of what has become known as 'the Anthropocene'. In this paper, I investigate the effects of geo-engineering in terms of freedom – not the only but perhaps the most important measure of moral and political desirability. Is geo-engineering a curse or a blessing, a po...