"T HE EIGHT HUNDRED" is an unusual Chinese film for its depiction of Nationalist soldiers as heroes in a grinding battle against Japanese invaders in 1937. The Nationalists, or Kuomintang, fought a long on-off civil war against the Communist Party and so are typically portrayed as villains and stooges on Chinese screens. From a global perspective, the film is unusual for a different reason. It is that rarest of things in these covid-clouded times: a box-office hit.
Many of China's factories reopened as early as February, but it is only now, nearly eight months on, that the broader economy is approaching its normal trajectory. Based on a batch of activity data published on September 15th, China is on track to expand by roughly 5% in the third quarter compared with a year earlier, a smidgen below the 6% growth rate that it reported in the second half of 2019, before covid-19 erupted.
Many things are taking place:
Europe's Economic Revival Is Imperiled, Raising the Specter of a Grinding Downturn - The New York
LONDON — Europe was supposedly done with political histrionics. In the face of the pandemic, a continent not known for common purpose had put aside long-festering national suspicions to forge a collective economic rescue, raising hopes that a sustainable recovery was underway .
But the European revival appears to be already flagging, and in part because of worries that traditional political concerns may disrupt economic imperatives.
The European Central Bank — which won confidence with vows to do whatever it took to stabilize the economy and support lending — has been hesitant to reprise such talk, sowing doubts about the future availability of credit.
Shotgun wedding - Who will buy Borsa Italiana? | Finance & economics | The Economist
I N AN AUCTION, the highest bidder usually walks away with the asset on sale. Yet considerations that are not purely commercial are likely to determine who wins the London Stock Exchange's auction of Borsa Italiana. The LSE is selling the Italian stock exchange in order to ensure regulatory approval of its takeover of Refinitiv, a financial-data provider that it agreed to buy last year for $27bn.
There are three suitors on the scene. The highest bidder is reportedly Switzerland's SIX , a Zürich-based stock exchange which brings a big war chest and a strong credit rating to the party. (A spokesman for SIX did not confirm the offer.) The mooted price is €3.4bn ($4bn)—and could go higher. Deutsche Börse, Germany's main stock exchange, made a non-binding offer to buy Borsa Italiana on September 11th. Euronext followed suit with its offer on September 14th.
Regulation - Costs of carbon | Special report | The Economist
S UPPORT FOR solar panels in Georgia came from a surprising point on the American political spectrum. In 2013 Georgia Power, the local electricity monopoly, was reluctant to increase the use of solar panels. That irked Debbie Dooley, a preacher's daughter and co-founder of Atlanta's Tea Party, a hard-right Republican faction. She wanted more energy independence, and rooftop solar was one answer.
Politicians of all stripes are introducing green regulations. The Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics counts over 1,900 pieces of climate legislation around the world. Almost two-thirds were enacted in the past ten years. That may be good news for the planet, if perhaps not for many firms.
While you're here, how about this:
COVID-19: experts in epidemiology, economics, psychology, other fields available for media
Virginia Tech experts on a variety of subjects are available for media interviews related to COVID-19 and the novel coronavirus. More than 50 experts are currently listed , and additional scholars with expertise related to the global spread of the novel coronavirus will be added as they become available.
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The American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will co-host a webinar on "Education Research Worldwide in a Covid and Post-Covid World" at 9:30-11:00 am EDT Wednesday, September 23.
Opinion | Small businesses can drive the economic recovery — with our help - The Washington Post
So far, they've been decimated. Over the first two months of shutdowns, small-business revenue dropped more than 40 percent . For a while, they were able to draw down cash reserves to stay afloat. But by July, more than 420,000 small businesses had already been lost.
The recession created by this pandemic is very unusual. The reduction in activity because of social distancing cannot be offset by traditional stimulus. No amount of checks to households is going to open a bar shut down by local authorities, get its bartenders back to work or pay its rent. This means small businesses need direct support.
Schumpeter - What is stakeholder capitalism? | Business | The Economist
It is also hard to find a better example of their embodiment than Walmart. Listed on the stockmarket the year Friedman's article was published, it morphed from Sam Walton's hometown grocery store into the "beast of Bentonville", with a reputation for low prices as well as beating up suppliers and bossing staff.
In partisan America, riven by gender, race and income inequality, such "stakeholderism" is all the rage. But there is pushback. To celebrate the half-centenary of Friedman's essay, the University of Chicago, his alma mater , held an online forum at its Booth School of Business in which advocates of his creed argued that giving bosses too much latitude may make things worse for stakeholders, not better.
Free exchange - How does today's tech boom compare with the dotcom era?
I N TROUBLED TIMES people take comfort in the familiar. Covid-19 has upended many things, but tech-stock prices have proved impressively invulnerable. The Nasdaq, a tech-heavy stock index, has leapt by 25% since the beginning of 2020, taking its total rise over the past decade to over 400%. Were it not for a handful of tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, the S & P 500, another share-price index, would be down so far this year.
The two booms do share features beyond their stock-price trajectories. Both were sustained by inflows of new money. In the late 1990s discount brokerages and online-trading platforms drew in amateur punters looking to profit off the seemingly one-way market. Today, an army of small-timers trade shares and derivatives on new platforms like Robinhood.
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