1 We are in this together (Johannesburg Times) Austerity-strangled Greece, cheap-money US and military-ruled Egypt all exhibit different symptoms. But it is no accident so many of the world's economies are sputtering at the same time, or that so many people around the globe are angry. One reason for the synchronised gloom, of course, is the synchronisation of the global economy. But the world is suffering from more than a shared cold. Rather, we are all, both together and apart, trying to figure out three big questions. Our answers will shape the 21st century.
The first is how nation-states fit into a globalised world economy. Different countries are wrestling with different versions of this problem. Small states with their own currencies and open trade policies have just endured a version of the Asian crisis of 1998, and they have come to similar conclusions - survival requires a fortress-like national balance sheet and export-led growth.
The second question is even knottier. Global capitalism is the best economic system devised so far: Worldwide growth in the three decades before the financial crisis delivered, strikingly, a huge rise in incomes to poor people in countries like India and China that, a generation ago, economists had all but given up on. But policies of the past few decades to deliver for the middle class. As British politician Lord Paddy Ashdown recently told Canadian civil servants: "You alienate the middle class at your peril. The middle class always leads revolutions."
The third question is the one we speak about the least and should probably worry about most - can rich women be persuaded to have children? Rich, here, doesn't refer to the wives of the plutocrats. Once a country achieves middle-income status, its middle-class women stop having many children. This demographic squeeze is another big contributor to Europe's malaise.
The global family will be unhappy until we find a power configuration that works. The good news - and the bad news - is we will only be able to figure that out together.
2 Central banks hold 30% of world GDP (The Guardian) Almost 30% of global GDP, or $18tn, is held by central banks after purchasing government bonds and pumping liquidity into the financial system to ease the current crisis. This is double the level of ten years ago, according to the latest annual report from the Bank for International Settlements. Ahead of this week's European summit, the BIS said it was difficult to escape the idea that a solution to the eurozone crisis required a pan-European banking system – a plan which is not supported by all eurozone members.
3 America's biotech future (Fareed Zakaria in Khaleej Times) It's hard to find any good economic news these days. There is one bright spot on the American landscape: technology, particularly biotechnology. The cost of sequencing a human genome is down to $1,000, and the process now takes two hours — a pace that is much faster than "Moore’s Law." It is a reminder that, as we confront difficulties across the economic landscape, one area where the United States can still grow stronger is science and technology — if we make the right decisions.
There is more to encouraging science and technology than simply funding. Government rules and regulations play a large role. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the dynamic founder of one of India’s powerhouse pharmaceutical companies, Biocon, argues that the entire American-style set of regulations, clinical trials and lengthy waiting periods is a serious deterrent to innovation in drugs and in pharmaceuticals more generally. "It takes 12 years to get a drug from conception to market," she says, "while it took six years to get the Airbus A380 from the drawing board to flying in the skies." The science and economics of large-scale increases in support of science and technology are clear. As usual, the politics is the problem.
4 An oasis of feminism in India (Nilanjana S Roy in Khaleej Times) After you have spent some time in relatively conservative northern India, the state of Goa can give the impression of a feminist paradise — especially this year, when women have been unusually successful in running for key posts in the powerful local village councils. In some areas, like the popular resort towns of Calangute and Candolim, women have become council heads this year through the application of affirmative action policies. But in Salcete, 42% of the successful candidates were women — including many who won their seats in general wards, not just in constituencies reserved for women.
Women have significantly greater land rights in Goa, thanks to the Common Civil Code dating back to the days of Portuguese colonial rule. Under the code, elements of which survived the Indian annexation of Goa in 1961, women are entitled to a share in both parental and marital property. Still, even Goa is not quite a feminist paradise. Property disputes still occur, and in practice, many women have to fight hard to retain their rights to parental property after marriage.
5 Eurozone austerity hits world's poor (The Guardian) The flow of aid from Europe to the world's poorest countries fell by €700m in 2011, the first drop for almost a decade as the crisis in the single currency caused 14 member states to cut development assistance. Figures from the pressure group One showed that Europe had failed to meet pledges made at the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005, and it warned that growing budget austerity had "spilled over into life-saving programmes". One's annual Data report showed that two of the countries worst affected by the sovereign debt crisis – Greece and Spain – slashed their aid budgets by 40% and 30% respectively between 2010 and 2011 as EU financial assistance dropped by 1.5%.
6 More UK highstreet shops face bankruptcy (The Guardian) The figurehead of the UK's insolvency industry has warned that a new batch of retailers could be forced into administration as the high street attempts to trade through one of the most financially stressful weeks of the year. The forecast by Lee Manning, the president of the insolvency industry's trade body, R3, comes as shopkeepers attempt to pay their landlords three months' advance rent on their stores, a bill that became due on Sunday in a deadline known as "rent quarter day".
7 Qatar seeks $5bn China investment (BBC) Qatar has said it is applying for a licence under China's Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) programme to invest in its capital market. It is seeking an investment quota of $5bn, five times the current cap of $1bn, according to the Xinhua news agency. This comes just days after China said it was looking to ease the entry rules for foreign investors. Qatar said it will invest the funds mostly in China's equity market.
8 Placenta eating in China (Straits Times) Placentophagy - the practice of eating one's placenta after birth - is relatively common in China, where it is thought to have anti-ageing properties, and dates back more than 2,000 years.
The first is how nation-states fit into a globalised world economy. Different countries are wrestling with different versions of this problem. Small states with their own currencies and open trade policies have just endured a version of the Asian crisis of 1998, and they have come to similar conclusions - survival requires a fortress-like national balance sheet and export-led growth.
The second question is even knottier. Global capitalism is the best economic system devised so far: Worldwide growth in the three decades before the financial crisis delivered, strikingly, a huge rise in incomes to poor people in countries like India and China that, a generation ago, economists had all but given up on. But policies of the past few decades to deliver for the middle class. As British politician Lord Paddy Ashdown recently told Canadian civil servants: "You alienate the middle class at your peril. The middle class always leads revolutions."
The third question is the one we speak about the least and should probably worry about most - can rich women be persuaded to have children? Rich, here, doesn't refer to the wives of the plutocrats. Once a country achieves middle-income status, its middle-class women stop having many children. This demographic squeeze is another big contributor to Europe's malaise.
The global family will be unhappy until we find a power configuration that works. The good news - and the bad news - is we will only be able to figure that out together.
2 Central banks hold 30% of world GDP (The Guardian) Almost 30% of global GDP, or $18tn, is held by central banks after purchasing government bonds and pumping liquidity into the financial system to ease the current crisis. This is double the level of ten years ago, according to the latest annual report from the Bank for International Settlements. Ahead of this week's European summit, the BIS said it was difficult to escape the idea that a solution to the eurozone crisis required a pan-European banking system – a plan which is not supported by all eurozone members.
3 America's biotech future (Fareed Zakaria in Khaleej Times) It's hard to find any good economic news these days. There is one bright spot on the American landscape: technology, particularly biotechnology. The cost of sequencing a human genome is down to $1,000, and the process now takes two hours — a pace that is much faster than "Moore’s Law." It is a reminder that, as we confront difficulties across the economic landscape, one area where the United States can still grow stronger is science and technology — if we make the right decisions.
There is more to encouraging science and technology than simply funding. Government rules and regulations play a large role. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the dynamic founder of one of India’s powerhouse pharmaceutical companies, Biocon, argues that the entire American-style set of regulations, clinical trials and lengthy waiting periods is a serious deterrent to innovation in drugs and in pharmaceuticals more generally. "It takes 12 years to get a drug from conception to market," she says, "while it took six years to get the Airbus A380 from the drawing board to flying in the skies." The science and economics of large-scale increases in support of science and technology are clear. As usual, the politics is the problem.
4 An oasis of feminism in India (Nilanjana S Roy in Khaleej Times) After you have spent some time in relatively conservative northern India, the state of Goa can give the impression of a feminist paradise — especially this year, when women have been unusually successful in running for key posts in the powerful local village councils. In some areas, like the popular resort towns of Calangute and Candolim, women have become council heads this year through the application of affirmative action policies. But in Salcete, 42% of the successful candidates were women — including many who won their seats in general wards, not just in constituencies reserved for women.
Women have significantly greater land rights in Goa, thanks to the Common Civil Code dating back to the days of Portuguese colonial rule. Under the code, elements of which survived the Indian annexation of Goa in 1961, women are entitled to a share in both parental and marital property. Still, even Goa is not quite a feminist paradise. Property disputes still occur, and in practice, many women have to fight hard to retain their rights to parental property after marriage.
5 Eurozone austerity hits world's poor (The Guardian) The flow of aid from Europe to the world's poorest countries fell by €700m in 2011, the first drop for almost a decade as the crisis in the single currency caused 14 member states to cut development assistance. Figures from the pressure group One showed that Europe had failed to meet pledges made at the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005, and it warned that growing budget austerity had "spilled over into life-saving programmes". One's annual Data report showed that two of the countries worst affected by the sovereign debt crisis – Greece and Spain – slashed their aid budgets by 40% and 30% respectively between 2010 and 2011 as EU financial assistance dropped by 1.5%.
6 More UK highstreet shops face bankruptcy (The Guardian) The figurehead of the UK's insolvency industry has warned that a new batch of retailers could be forced into administration as the high street attempts to trade through one of the most financially stressful weeks of the year. The forecast by Lee Manning, the president of the insolvency industry's trade body, R3, comes as shopkeepers attempt to pay their landlords three months' advance rent on their stores, a bill that became due on Sunday in a deadline known as "rent quarter day".
7 Qatar seeks $5bn China investment (BBC) Qatar has said it is applying for a licence under China's Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) programme to invest in its capital market. It is seeking an investment quota of $5bn, five times the current cap of $1bn, according to the Xinhua news agency. This comes just days after China said it was looking to ease the entry rules for foreign investors. Qatar said it will invest the funds mostly in China's equity market.
8 Placenta eating in China (Straits Times) Placentophagy - the practice of eating one's placenta after birth - is relatively common in China, where it is thought to have anti-ageing properties, and dates back more than 2,000 years.
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