Matthew E. Kahn – Arthur Brooks’ OP-ED focuses on the politics of optimism but I would prefer to recast his focus on what should be the basis of our optimism about our collective future. In 2015, we live in a world with roughly 7.3 billion people whose life expectancy is higher than it has every been. Educational attainment is higher than it has ever been. Urbanization both insulates us from climate shocks and facilitates trade and learning. Anticipating a longer life time and lower infant mortality, families are having fewer children and investing more in the human capital of each child. These children (through the dynamic complementarity mechanism of learning begets learning) are more likely than previous cohorts to achieve their full potential. While many progressives yearn for a return to 1950s America, I have argued (see this post and this post) that those days were not as great as they recall and the rest of the world was not in terrific shape then (think of China). Tiếp tục đọc “Optimism About Our Rising Standard of Living”
Chuyên mục: Global economy
Trung Quốc độc quyền khoáng sản quý như thế nào?
TTCT – Có lợi thế trời phú là nơi tập trung nhiều loại khoáng sản quý cho công nghiệp hiện đại, Trung Quốc đã vận dụng tối đa chiến lược biến lợi thế này thành quyền lực độc quyền để kiểm soát thị trường thế giới.
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| Mỏ khai thác đất hiếm của Mỹ ở Mountain Pass, California – Ảnh: ifixit.org |
Khoáng sản quý hiếm, đặc biệt là các loại có ứng dụng rộng rãi như vonfram, bismuth và đất hiếm, đang trở thành át chủ bài đối với sự phát triển kinh tế và quốc phòng của mọi quốc gia. Chất bán dẫn trong các thiết bị điện tử làm từ đất hiếm, buồng đốt động cơ phản lực chịu nhiệt cao bằng hợp kim vonfram, vật liệu chuyên chở nhiên liệu trong lò phản ứng hạt nhân làm từ bismuth… Không có các kim loại quý này thì không có nền công nghiệp hiện đại, cũng không có nền quốc phòng hiện đại.
Tiếp tục đọc “Trung Quốc độc quyền khoáng sản quý như thế nào?”
The really worrying financial crisis is happening in China, not Greece
Already, there are warning signs of a slowdown, similar to those that front-ran the 1929 crash Photo: Reuters
8:04PM BST 09 Jul 2015
Thetelegraph – While all Western eyes remain firmly focused on Greece, a potentially much more significant financial crisis is developing on the other side of world. In some quarters, it’s already being called China’s 1929 – the year of the most infamous stock market crash in history and the start of the economic catastrophe of the Great Depression. Tiếp tục đọc “The really worrying financial crisis is happening in China, not Greece”
Asia takes the lead on sustainable energy but many still have none
Eco-business – Although Asia has done well on ensuring electricity access for people and using renewable energy, there is room for further improvement on energy efficiency and access to clean, smoke-free cooking. CSR Asia chairman Richard Welford outlines how the private sector can help.
A woman cooks on a wood cookstove in Vietnam. Asia needs to do more on providing access to clean, smoke-free cooking and improving energy efficiency. Image: LIETHUNG TRAN / Shutterstock.com
By Richard Welford Friday 26 June 2015Germany Gives Dirtiest Coal Plants Six Years for Phase Out
July 2, 2015 — 9:24 AM BST Updated on July 2, 2015 — 3:03 PM BST
A coal-fired power plant in Janschwalde, Germany. The government’s coal plans would mean immediate closures of lignite mines and power stations, RWE AG Chief Executive Officer Peter Terium told shareholders on April 23. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
Bloomberg – Germany’s main political parties worked out a compromise plan to cut power-industry pollution by handing a six-year lifeline to some of the dirtiest coal-fired plants. Tiếp tục đọc “Germany Gives Dirtiest Coal Plants Six Years for Phase Out”
Southeast Asia’s Geopolitical Centrality and the U.S.-Japan Alliance
JUN 11, 2015
CSIS – Building on a careful analysis of Southeast Asia’s recent history, politics, economics, and place within the Asia Pacific, this report looks forward two decades to anticipate the development of trends in the region and how they will impact the U.S.-Japan alliance. How will Southeast Asian states come to grips with the political and economic rise of China? How will they modernize their military forces and security relationships, and what role can the United States and Japan play? How will they manage their disputes in the South China Sea, and how will they pursue greater regional integration? These questions will prove critical in understanding Southeast Asia’s role in the Asia Pacific, and in the U.S.-Japan alliance, in the decades ahead.
Publisher CSIS/Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 978-1-4422-4086-5 (pb); 978-1-4422-4087-2 (eBook)
The Current State of Sustainable Energy Provision for Displaced Populations: An analysis
This paper examines the benefits and impacts of sustainable energy access for displaced populations, considers the challenges to energy access and assesses the role of the private sector in delivering energy for displaced populations.
Photo: iStockphoto By the end of 2013, the number of forcibly displaced persons worldwide had reached 51.2 million, of which 33.3 million were internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 16.7 million were refugees. Access to energy is a basic human need; for these displaced people however, access to energy is a real challenge. This initial research reviews camp situations (which are home to approximately 50% of refugees) and focuses on the evidence of the benefits and impacts of sustainable energy access for displaced populations. The paper also assesses how the private sector could help to provide energy for displaced populations. Tiếp tục đọc “The Current State of Sustainable Energy Provision for Displaced Populations: An analysis”
Global Economic Prospects | June 2015 – East Asia and Pacific
East Asia and Pacific
In the East Asia and Pacific region, growth is expected to ease to 6.7 percent in 2015 and remain stable over the next two years, according to the June 2015 issue of Global Economics Prospects. This reflects a continued slowdown in China that is offset by a modest pickup in the rest of the region. A net oil importer, the region is expected to benefit from lower fuel prices, although commodity exporters Indonesia and Malaysia face pressures from lower global prices of oil, gas, coal, palm oil, and rubber. Growth in China is on course to ease to 7.1 percent this year. Regional growth (excluding China) is projected to be 4.9 percent this year, rising to 5.4 percent by 2016 due to strengthening external demand — notwithstanding slower growth in China, less policy uncertainty in Thailand, and easing domestic pressures elsewhere.
Download analysis (PDF)
Developing Countries Face Tough Transition in 2015 with Higher Borrowing Costs and Lower Prices for Oil & Other Commodities
WORLD BANK Press release
June 10, 2015
Impending rise in US interest rates could reduce capital flows, spur financial market volatility in developing countries
WASHINGTON, June 10, 2015 – Developing countries face a series of tough challenges in 2015, including the looming prospect of higher borrowing costs as they adapt to a new era of low prices for oil and other key commodities, resulting in a fourth consecutive year of disappointing economic growth this year, says the World Bank Group’s latest Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report, released today. Tiếp tục đọc “Developing Countries Face Tough Transition in 2015 with Higher Borrowing Costs and Lower Prices for Oil & Other Commodities”
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