The Economist
Global house prices: Hong Kong phew-whee
Our quarterly index reveals the world’s most overvalued homes IN CROWDED Hong Kong, property is so expensive that even the estate agents are squeezed for space. The number of licensed agents reached 31,306 at the end of last year, an increase of 40% since March 2009. The qualifying exam is so popular that fees... »
The battle for Grameen: Halo, goodbye
Attacks on the sainted Muhammad Yunus escalate FIRST, trenchant criticism. Late last year Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, accused Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen, the world’s best-known microfinance institution, of playing “a trick” to evade taxes. Then, broad hints that Mr Yunus might consider quitting: “At 70, Professor Yunus is... »
Sex and insurance: A boy-racer’s dream?
A European court puts an end to sex-based premiums THERE were howls of protest from the insurance industry when the European Court of Justice ruled on March 1st that a person’s sex should not be used to set insurance policies. It will be expensive for some, argued insurers: no more cheap premiums for careful... »
Sex and insurance: A boy-racer’s dream?
A European court puts an end to sex-based premiums THERE were howls of protest from the insurance industry when the European Court of Justice ruled on March 1st that a person’s sex should not be used to set insurance policies. It will be expensive for some, argued insurers: no more cheap premiums for careful... »
Sex and insurance: A boy-racer’s dream?
A European court puts an end to sex-based premiums THERE were howls of protest from the insurance industry when the European Court of Justice ruled on March 1st that a person’s sex should not be used to set insurance policies. It will be expensive for some, argued insurers: no more cheap premiums for careful... »
China’s banks: Cognitive dissonance
The numbers say Chinese banks are doing brilliantly. The market is sceptical IN THE war between China bulls and bears, the country’s banks represent an important battleground. The banks are China’s most valuable listed firms, accounting for more than a fifth of the entire Hong Kong stockmarket. Their broader significance to China’s economy is... »
Global house prices: Hong Kong phew-whee
Our quarterly index reveals the world’s most overvalued homes IN CROWDED Hong Kong, property is so expensive that even the estate agents are squeezed for space. The number of licensed agents reached 31,306 at the end of last year, an increase of 40% since March 2009. The qualifying exam is so popular that fees... »
Pay in the public sector: Sun, salaries and public servants
The part that mild weather plays in wages GOVERNMENTS in the rich world are taking the knife to the budgets, pay and pensions of state employees. But where to cut? A study by Jan Brueckner and David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, finds that within America there may be more flab in... »
The battle for Grameen: Halo, goodbye
Attacks on the sainted Muhammad Yunus escalate FIRST, trenchant criticism. Late last year Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, accused Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen, the world’s best-known microfinance institution, of playing “a trick” to evade taxes. Then, broad hints that Mr Yunus might consider quitting: “At 70, Professor Yunus is... »
The battle for Grameen: Halo, goodbye
Attacks on the sainted Muhammad Yunus escalate FIRST, trenchant criticism. Late last year Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, accused Muhammad Yunus, the founder and managing director of Grameen, the world’s best-known microfinance institution, of playing “a trick” to evade taxes. Then, broad hints that Mr Yunus might consider quitting: “At 70, Professor Yunus is... »
China’s banks: Cognitive dissonance
The numbers say Chinese banks are doing brilliantly. The market is sceptical IN THE war between China bulls and bears, the country’s banks represent an important battleground. The banks are China’s most valuable listed firms, accounting for more than a fifth of the entire Hong Kong stockmarket. Their broader significance to China’s economy is... »
Galleon Group: The charging of Rajat Gupta
Misery loves company. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has now charged 22 people for illegally exchanging inside information as part of the Galleon Group hedge-fund case. The latest is Rajat Gupta, a former boss of McKinsey, a consultancy. He was charged this week for feeding tips to Raj Rajaratnam, who ran Galleon. Galleon... »
Pay in the public sector: Sun, salaries and public servants
The part that mild weather plays in wages GOVERNMENTS in the rich world are taking the knife to the budgets, pay and pensions of state employees. But where to cut? A study by Jan Brueckner and David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, finds that within America there may be more flab in... »
China’s banks: Cognitive dissonance
The numbers say Chinese banks are doing brilliantly. The market is sceptical IN THE war between China bulls and bears, the country’s banks represent an important battleground. The banks are China’s most valuable listed firms, accounting for more than a fifth of the entire Hong Kong stockmarket. Their broader significance to China’s economy is... »
Galleon Group: The charging of Rajat Gupta
Misery loves company. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has now charged 22 people for illegally exchanging inside information as part of the Galleon Group hedge-fund case. The latest is Rajat Gupta, a former boss of McKinsey, a consultancy. He was charged this week for feeding tips to Raj Rajaratnam, who ran Galleon. Galleon... »
Global house prices: Hong Kong phew-whee
Our quarterly index reveals the world’s most overvalued homes IN CROWDED Hong Kong, property is so expensive that even the estate agents are squeezed for space. The number of licensed agents reached 31,306 at the end of last year, an increase of 40% since March 2009. The qualifying exam is so popular that fees... »
Economics focus: Stagnation or inequality
Has the American economy exhausted the easy sources of growth? YOU could be forgiven for missing the publication of the most talked-about economics book of the year so far. The author, Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, quietly announced its release in a post on his blog. “The Great Stagnation” is an... »
Galleon Group: The charging of Rajat Gupta
Misery loves company. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has now charged 22 people for illegally exchanging inside information as part of the Galleon Group hedge-fund case. The latest is Rajat Gupta, a former boss of McKinsey, a consultancy. He was charged this week for feeding tips to Raj Rajaratnam, who ran Galleon. Galleon... »
Economics focus: Stagnation or inequality
Has the American economy exhausted the easy sources of growth? YOU could be forgiven for missing the publication of the most talked-about economics book of the year so far. The author, Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, quietly announced its release in a post on his blog. “The Great Stagnation” is an... »
Pay in the public sector: Sun, salaries and public servants
The part that mild weather plays in wages GOVERNMENTS in the rich world are taking the knife to the budgets, pay and pensions of state employees. But where to cut? A study by Jan Brueckner and David Neumark of the University of California, Irvine, finds that within America there may be more flab in... »
Economics focus: Stagnation or inequality
Has the American economy exhausted the easy sources of growth? YOU could be forgiven for missing the publication of the most talked-about economics book of the year so far. The author, Tyler Cowen, an economist at George Mason University, quietly announced its release in a post on his blog. “The Great Stagnation” is an... »
Entertainment insurance: Break a leg
The glamorous side of insurance WITH categories like “sound mixing”, “make-up” and “art direction”, this weekend’s Oscars ceremony appears to celebrate almost every aspect of film-making. Insurers, however, do not make the red carpet, which may be why Fireman’s Fund has started nominating the year’s “riskiest film”. This year’s winner is “Salt”, a spy... »
The euro area’s debt crisis: Sovereign remedies
The “grand bargain” may prove less grand in reality than in rhetoric FOR months now European leaders have been striving to get on top of the euro-area debt crisis. But as the deadline for a supposedly comprehensive and enduring solution nears—summits are due to be held on March 11th and March 24th—the “grand bargain”... »
Derivatives: Unlucky for some
Proposed rules on taming swaps markets are proving controversial SEVEN is a lucky number in some cultures, but for regulators tasked with fleshing out America’s Dodd-Frank act on financial reform it is more curse than blessing. Writing rules for Title VII of the law, the section on over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, is proving devilish. Few... »
Banyan: More black tea than jasmine
Watching the Middle East and north Africa, Central Asia’s rulers see no pressing reason to fret LONG-SERVING dictators accused of corruption and nepotism; pervasive, cruel security forces; dissenting voices silenced in the name of the war against Islamist terrorism; worries about rising prices and jobless, rebellious youth; embarrassed Western friends ready to overlook a... »
Political systems: The fashion to be federal
In federations, some votes count more than others. Is the price worth paying? WHAT short rallying-cry sums up the hopes of people who risk their lives—anywhere from Tunis to Cairo to Rangoon—because they believe in free, universal suffrage? In years past, it was “one man, one vote”. That slogan was heard in apartheid South... »
Arctic resources: Now it’s their turn
The Inuit prepare to defend their rights WHEN in the Arctic, you should at least treat your host well. Royal Dutch Shell, an oil giant, had to learn this the hard way when planning to drill exploration wells in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska a couple of years ago. The firm had spent $84m... »
India’s economy: Calling on the gods
The finance minister gushes with optimism, but how much is warranted? PRANAB MUKHERJEE, India’s finance minister, is full of beans. His budget on February 28th drew praise from some observers for not being too lavish despite big state elections due next month. Chuckling over it the next day, he said the economy was in... »
Politicians with PhDs: Doctors in the house
Doctorates are in demand all over the world, but Germany is where politicians seem to need them most. Of the members of the country’s lower house, 114—or nearly one fifth—hold PhDs, and that includes the chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel. This strange love of doctorates helps explain why Germany’s defence minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, copied... »
China’s rescue mission to Libya: Push factor
The armed forces nudged farther afield FOR a fast-rising power, China is shy about military deployment beyond its borders. But its decision to dispatch four military transport planes to Libya and a guided-missile frigate to waters nearby suggests a rethink of its posture. On March 2nd one of the four planes ferried 250 Chinese... »
The United Nations and Libya: An unlikely unifier
Outrage over the Qaddafi regime has given tired institutions a new lease of life THIS has been a good week for anybody who still hopes that most of the world’s nations can be induced to sign up to certain standards of decent behaviour—and then to keep their promises. Libya’s despot, Muammar Qaddafi, can take... »
Another political assassination in Pakistan : Things fall apart
With the rise of militant Islam, Pakistan reaps what for years the state has sown ON MARCH 2nd came the second high-profile political murder in Pakistan in two months. Shahbaz Bhatti, the minorities minister, seems to have been killed for the same reason that Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, was assassinated on... »
Arctic resources: Now it’s their turn
The Inuit prepare to defend their rights WHEN in the Arctic, you should at least treat your host well. Royal Dutch Shell, an oil giant, had to learn this the hard way when planning to drill exploration wells in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska a couple of years ago. The firm had spent $84m... »
Politicians with PhDs: Doctors in the house
Doctorates are in demand all over the world, but Germany is where politicians seem to need them most. Of the members of the country’s lower house, 114—or nearly one fifth—hold PhDs, and that includes the chancellor, Dr Angela Merkel. This strange love of doctorates helps explain why Germany’s defence minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, copied... »
Military-to-military relationships: The ties that bind
America’s armed forces may sometimes succeed where its diplomats cannot NOBODY knows whether Egypt’s army will steer the country to free and fair elections. But there is less doubt about its role in minimising conflict during the demonstrations that eventually toppled Hosni Mubarak, the country’s president. The army would not use lethal force against... »
Political systems: The fashion to be federal
In federations, some votes count more than others. Is the price worth paying? WHAT short rallying-cry sums up the hopes of people who risk their lives—anywhere from Tunis to Cairo to Rangoon—because they believe in free, universal suffrage? In years past, it was “one man, one vote”. That slogan was heard in apartheid South... »
Military-to-military relationships: The ties that bind
America’s armed forces may sometimes succeed where its diplomats cannot NOBODY knows whether Egypt’s army will steer the country to free and fair elections. But there is less doubt about its role in minimising conflict during the demonstrations that eventually toppled Hosni Mubarak, the country’s president. The army would not use lethal force against... »
The United Nations and Libya: An unlikely unifier
Outrage over the Qaddafi regime has given tired institutions a new lease of life THIS has been a good week for anybody who still hopes that most of the world’s nations can be induced to sign up to certain standards of decent behaviour—and then to keep their promises. Libya’s despot, Muammar Qaddafi, can take... »
Jasmine stirrings in China: No awakening, but crush it anyway
The government goes to great lengths to make sure all is outwardly calm AT SOME point in the education of every foreign student of Chinese, joining a chorus of the simple and syrupy song “Beautiful Jasmine Flower” is all but mandatory. A bunch of students in Kenya sang it to Hu Jintao in 2006,... »
America and Pakistan: Stuck with you
A clash between spy agencies is boosting the ISI—but is doing Pakistan no favours CHALK up one point to Pakistan’s military-intelligence service, the ISI, and none to America’s. In a test of strength over the fate of an American agent, awaiting trial for murder, it is clear who is emerging the stronger. The agent... »