Archive for July, 2007
Globalisation leads to contagion
In: Uncategorized
31 Jul 2007Anyone interested in my take on the latest volatility in the financial markets can read my comment in this week’s Fund Strategy (30 July). Not long ago, any problems in a foreign mortgage market would be of little interest to British investors. The shift to a more global world economy and financial system, where markets […]
- Tags: finance, Fund Strategy, globalisation
A new global middle class?
In: Uncategorized
30 Jul 2007Branko Milanovic, lead economist in the research unit in the World Bank, is sceptical about the growth of a global middle class. In an interview with the Toronto Globe and Mail he says that even the recent years of strong economic growth will not automatically lead to a larger middle class. In Latin America or […]
- Tags: book, economics, globalisation, inequality, Latin America
Classic growth scepticism reading
In: Uncategorized
29 Jul 2007Someone asked me recently to recommend an essay or long article, available on the internet, to illustrate growth scepticism. I found it hard because the genre is fragmented. There is a vast literature of articles on specific topics but relatively little that gives a good overview of the subject. It is a jigsaw composed of […]
- Tags: development, economics, growth
A conservative rebuttal on inequality
In: Uncategorized
27 Jul 2007David Brooks, a conservative columnist for the New York Times, had an article on July 24 arguing that the trend towards inequality in America is being exaggerated. Although Brooks has a vested interest in countering the Democrat’s arguments it does not follow that everything he says is wrong. The column is reproduced in full below […]
- Tags: America, inequality
Sin Tracker: patio heaters
In: Uncategorized
26 Jul 2007Monitoring the alleged sins of modern life A new evil is stalking the land. The Energy Saving Trust (EST), a body founded by and partly financed by the government, has decided it does not like patio heaters. Its chief executive, Philip Sellwood, is quoted in an EST press release as suggesting that people should wear […]
- Tags: climate, environment, sin tracker
Debating population
25 Jul 2007Engineers Against Poverty has published a debate between me and David Nicholson-Lord, research associate of the Optimum Population Trust, in its July newsletter. Nicholson-Lord argues that the size of the global population is itself a problem. I counter that human ingenuity has enabled humanity to overcome apparently natural limits and is likely to do so […]
More on bashing China
In: Uncategorized
24 Jul 2007James Woudhuysen has written a more extensive article for Spiked on bashing China (see yesterday’s post). Postscript (27 July) – some additional references: * Brendan O’Neill’s article on the comment is free website on 25 July. * Edward Burtynsky’s book of photographs on China.
- Tags: china, development, environment, spiked
Bashing China
In: Uncategorized
23 Jul 2007This week’s Fund Strategy included a comment by me on attacks on China for not being sufficiently green. Last week seemed to be Bash China Week. Suddenly there was a widespread discussion of China’s supposed failings. Rather than caricature what is said, it is probably best to quote it verbatim. A cover story in Business […]
- Tags: china, development, environment, Fund Strategy
Humanity reduced to nothing
In: Uncategorized
22 Jul 2007Human beings are worth virtually nothing. That at least is the conclusion of the new “insignificance” tour at the prestigious American Museum of Natural History in New York. The tour is led by Jing Li, a Columbia university student, who is quoted in an article in the New York Sun as saying “The objective for […]
- Tags: America, development, environment, progress
My review of The Bottom Billion
In: Uncategorized
20 Jul 2007Spiked has published my review of The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier. For earlier discussions of this book see posts of 14 May, 6 June and 1 July.
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