Bloomberg Uncertainty about President Donald Trump’s domestic policies and weak European currencies buoyed outbound dealmaking by US companies during the first quarter of the year. US acquirers spent more than $70 billion on European targets in the three months to March 31, more than double the amount they dropped in the same period a year earlier and the most ...
Read More »Seattle’s try to unionize Uber, Lyft drivers hits roadblock
Bloomberg Seattle’s first-in-the-nation law allowing drivers-for-hire to unionize was blocked by a federal judge, giving a boost to ride-hailing companies such as Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. US District Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle on Tuesday granted a request by the US Chamber of Commerce to put the city’s ordinance on hold before it goes into effect. The ...
Read More »Why economics failed to warn of looming disaster!
When people come up to me and declare that economists are charlatans, they usually mention how economists failed to predict the Great Recession. This is true. No mainstream macroeconomic model of the day managed to anticipate that the largest, longest economic downturn since the Great Depression was imminent, until it was already underway. Macroeconomists typically respond that forecasting isn’t ...
Read More »How Asia can help burst Sydney’s property bubble
Looking at the headlong growth in Australian house prices — up 19 percent from a year earlier in Sydney in March — it’s tempting to believe that the market is simply uncontrollable. In 2014, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), announced measures to restrict the increase in investment mortgages. For three quarters it seemed to be working, with loan ...
Read More »Trump needs a plan to deal with China
On the eve of their first-ever meeting this week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has one great advantage over US President Donald Trump: He knows what he wants. By contrast, US policy towards China looks confused and contradictory. Until and unless this changes, not much progress will be made on critical issues in the most important bilateral relationship in the ...
Read More »Terrorism must be fought jointly
The Russian subway bombing, which killed 14 people, was the worst terrorist attack in a major Russian city in years. The suspected bomber has been identified as Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, 22, a Russian citizen born in Kyrgyzstan. It drew wide condemnation from Russia’s friends and foes. The UAE strongly condemned the terrorist bombings and expressed its full solidarity with Russia ...
Read More »Small European currencies are just a headache
Turmoil continues for small currencies on Europe’s periphery: The Czech Republic finally may be about to drop the koruna’s peg to the euro, and Iceland is looking for a currency to use to value the krona. The agony of these decisions may give central bank governors an illusion of control, but currency pegs appear to be outliving their usefulness. ...
Read More »No raise? It’s not you. It’s your company
The kind of company you work for makes a big difference to your chances of getting raises, new research has found. This adds to growing evidence that what goes on inside firms matters beyond their walls. Researchers have shown that company-level differences have become large enough to influence national productivity growth and overall wage inequality. The new study suggests ...
Read More »How China can become a true global climate leader
One of the world’s largest reserves of low-grade, dirty coal is located roughly 250 miles west of Karachi, Pakistan in the Thar Desert. Discovered in the 1990s, it remained largely untapped until last year, when Chinese financing underwrote a $3.5 billion project to exploit it. The investment is part of a larger Chinese energy plan for Pakistan that includes ...
Read More »Boeing signs US$3bn deal with Iran airline
TEHRAN / AP Boeing Co. has signed a $3 billion deal with an Iranian airline for 30 new aircraft, officials said, in the first major sale by a US company in the Islamic Republic since the Trump administration imposed new sanctions against Tehran. The deal for the 30 737 MAX aircraft, which includes an option for another 30, could ...
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