Category: Economics
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Oil prices caught in a global storm of angst
This one has been sitting around waiting to be blogged for a while now. Steve A. Yetiv, professor of political science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and author of the forthcoming book “Crude Awakenings: Global Oil Security and American Foreign Policy”, writes about the price of oil. He points out: All this brings…
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Google, Shmoogle. The Biggest I.P.O.'s Went Unnoticed.
Randall Stross in the New York Times [Reg reqd] tells of the other IPOs this year that went unnoticed. He points out that it is only the trendy tech industry gets all the press comment while other bigger IPO’s receive scant attention. Some readers may have missed the news. Genworth’s was only the biggest initial…
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Kakha Bendukidze
Is this man the godsend of Libertarians and free-market lovers everywhere? Could Georgia be the model for future economies? Or will it end up plunging into war with Russia? None of my readers know it, but one of my pet subjects is Caucasian politics. I read about it regularly, and discuss it with some very…
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De Botton on productivity versus lunch breaks
When you think of a productive economy you’re thinking of an anxious economy. You’re looking at many, many people who are afraid about hanging on to their places. You can either lead a simple lifethe Jeffersonian ideal of the independent farmer with his simple log cabin. Or you can lead a city life. It’s your…
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Europe's economic woes: Oversold?
Will Europe’s economy stand up to its old population and spiraling pensions costs? It might, or at least according to this article. Also mentioned is Chirac’s likely successor, Nicolas Sarkozy. In office, Sarkozy has steered a complicated course of talking of reform, including efforts to increase working hours in France, while also pushing through a…
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Keep an eye on China's grain production
Philip Bowring in the IHT asks us to keep an eye on it. A warning, and something to note. I may as well quote the whole thing: The world may soon pay a high price for years of low global food prices resulting in large part from European and U.S. farm subsidies. The winners could…
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Worldly wealth: Michael Lind
Michael Lind writes a piece in Prospect concerning how the earth will cope with the projected peak population of 9 billion people. This somewhat relates to recent debate on the amount of oil left on the planet. Lind gives some interesting stats including: As the economist Paul Romer pointed out in the magazine Reason (December…
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War will have worse affect than 1973 oil crisis
The world will suffer a bigger oil crisis than that during the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1973 if the US declares war on Iraq, according to leading US investment Goldman Sachs. This could send the price of a barrell of crude (Brent) up to $50. God.