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The gap between the black market and the official exchange rate has widened to--wait, there is no black market! Yes, that is right. From all accounts, the rationing of foreign currency has not led to a burgeoning parallel market. To be precise, the government has cracked down on what there was of it, and that seems to have done it. rent in london
An Ethiopian puzzle
I am in Ethiopia, and it is good to see how much the environment for private economic activity has improved since my last visit a few years back. The economy has been booming since 2003, growing at Chinese rates. But there are ominous signs that the good times will be interrupted by an old-fas...
· There have been a relatively small number of stimulus packages thus far and they don’t amount to much. The sum of these packages is a very small fraction of global GDP. Just over 20 countries have earmarked approximately $3 trillion (USD) or 0.5 5.5 percent of global GDP. moving to london
A global survey of stimulus plans
by Kevin P. Gallagher, guest blogger The G-20 issued a November 2008 call for a coordinated set of national responses to the global financial crisis and pledged that such responses would not be pro-cyclical in nature. With my graduate students at Boston University I conducted a survey of nationa...
That is because the framework cannot be applied mechanically and requires an inquisitive, detective's mind-set. You need to use economic theory and evidence judiciously to look for a series of clues that will identify the most likely suspect. So while the approach comes with a decision tree (reproduced below), which probably accounts for its good reception in policy circles, it is different from just checking a series of boxes--which is what is often done. There is an element of craft in doing the diagnostics right, but it is a craft solidly based on economic science. serviced apartments london
Doing growth diagnostics well
The language of "growth diagnostics" and of "removing binding constraints" is becoming so commonplace in multilateral agencies and donor organizations these days that I sometimes wonder whether we have not unleashed something out to the real world before its time. The trouble is that what I see ...
These are the discovery efforts that have been going on. One must presume that there are many more that could be taking place, but which are not, because it is difficult for pioneers to capture a large enough part of the social surplus they generate, even with the subsidy programs in place. london apartments
Self-discovery in practice
It is remarkable to see something in theory work so well in practice. Ricardo Hausmann and I wrote a paper several years ago called "Economic Development as Self-Discovery," where the idea was that entrepreneurship in a developing country consists of discovering the underlying cost structure--w...
In August 2010, the company appointed Adam Bain as President of Revenue from News Corp.'s Fox Audience Network.[24] student accommodation london
Unconditional convergence
I have a new paper out by this title, which you can download here. It shows that unconditional convergence is alive and well, but that we need to look for it within manufacturing industries rather than the economy as a whole. Industries that start at lower levels of labor productivity grow faste...
The ARB will complete its review of the LCFS protocols for adoption as an early action no later than June, 2007. Upon adoption as an early action by the ARB, the regulatory process at ARB will begin to put the new standard into effect. It is expected that the regulatory process at ARB to implement the new standard will be completed no later than December, 2008. rent in london
California Governor Orders Low Carbon Standard for Transportation Fuels; 10% GHG Reduction on Lifecycle Basis by 2020
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is establishing by Executive Order a Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) that requires, as an initial goal, a 10% reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) intensity of all passenger vehicle fuels sold in California by 2020. The LCFS requires fuel pro...
California PEV owners also have a high adoption rate of solar power, with 39% of respondents currently owning solar and 31% considering solar installations within a year. london apartments for rent
Survey of California plug-in vehicle owners highlights charging behavior
California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project rebates by vehicle type through July 2012. Source: CCSE. Click to enlarge. Californians own more than 12,000 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), roughly 35% of all plug-in vehicles in the United States. As of July 2012, approximately 1,000 new plug-in v...
You're forgetting that there are about 70 million single family homes in America with their own garages so even that is a big portion of a major market. flats in london
Survey of California plug-in vehicle owners highlights charging behavior
California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project rebates by vehicle type through July 2012. Source: CCSE. Click to enlarge. Californians own more than 12,000 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), roughly 35% of all plug-in vehicles in the United States. As of July 2012, approximately 1,000 new plug-in v...
We have looked at the IPCC assessment through the lens of public health and come up with quite a different reading. Public/rapid transport and safe cycling and walking are the prototype of a transport system that is good for health; it so happens that these are good for climate too. luxury apartments london
WHO report urges greater attention to improved land use, rapid transit, cycling and walking to achieve health co-benefits from transport GHG emissions mitigation
Urban density is one of the most important determinants of car use and transport-related energy consumption in cities. Source: WHO report. Click to enlarge. Among strategies to reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector, a shift to active transport (walking and cycling) and rapid transit/p...
I was not suggesting that there was a great chance of building many more, just pointing out that this one had been done quite a while ago and was still being used. moving to london
MIT study finds shift to green energy sources could mean crunch in supply of key rare earth elements
Comparison of demand projections for REE (total summed). Credit: ACS, Alonso et al. Click to enlarge. A large-scale shift from coal-fired electric power plants and gasoline-fueled cars to wind turbines and electric vehicles could increase demand for two already-scarce rare earth elements (R...
The niche for serial hybrids are stop-start duty cycles like London buses and refuse trucks, so why is this parallel? Electric for the door-to-door stuff and parallel for getting to and from the area of work? That is the two modes tailored for the two different parts of the duty cycle. serviced apartments london
Renault Trucks delivers Spain’s first 26t hybrid domestic refuse collection vehicle
Spanish domestic waste collection and processing company Urbaser has taken delivery of the first 26 t hybrid truck fitted with a refuse collection body in Spain. The 320 hp (235 kW) 6x2*4 Premium Distribution Hybrys Tech can cut fuel consumption by as much as 20%. The parallel hybrid system c...
The five-seat e6 is a crossover vehicle featuring a 75kW motor and BYD’s own Li-ion iron phosphate batteries, which gives the car a range of up to 186 miles (299 km) on a single charge in urban conditions with a top speed of 87 mph (140 km/h). The batteries can be fully charged and discharged for more than 4,000 cycles, according to BYD. london apartments
BYD to supply 50 e6 BEVs to greentomatocars for minicabs in London
Under a newly signed a Memorandum of Understanding, BYD will supply greentomatocars with 50 of its battery-electric e6 models for trial use as minicabs in London. greentomatocars is London’s second largest quality minicab service, with a fleet of 300. The company expects that the 50 electric ...
The WEVC system manages changes in the air gap beween BCU and VCU, automatically reducing power if needed to safeguard the integrity of the charging process. This also means that the system can compensate for different road clearance heights when the vehicle is fully laden. student accommodation london
Qualcomm and Renault announce memorandum of understanding on wireless electric vehicle charging technology
Qualcomm Incorporated and Renault s.a.s. announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning their intended cooperation on the London trial of Qualcomm Halo Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging (WEVC) technology (earlier post), and their intent with respect to conducting preliminary studies ...
The order now placed by Purolator represents the first commercial production vehicles to be produced by Azure under that agreement and comes after a period of extensive pre-production testing by both Purolator and Azure of Purolator vans outfitted with Azure powertrain technology. (Earlier post.) student accommodation london
Purolator Buys 115 Azure Dynamics Series-Hybrid Delivery Vans
Purolator series hybrid vans Purolator Courier, Canada’s largest courier company, is purchasing 115 new series hybrid-electric delivery vans from Azure Dynamics. This marks the largest hybrid order to date in the commercial delivery industry. Azure Dynamics and Purolator signed a supply agre...
Consider the (almost) impossible combination of demands that must be met during the job search. The Germans insist the new managing director should be from Europe. Europe's weak periphery wants someone who will be sympathetic to their cause and hit the ground running. Emerging market and developing economies ask for a leader that departs from the usual mold and will reflect their outlook and preferences for a change. And the world needs simply the best man or woman for the job. china outsourcing
Why Kemal Dervis should be the next IMF Managing Director
There is a wonderful scene in Sebastian Mallaby's book that covers Jim Wolfensohn's tenure at the World Bank. Wolfensohn is arriving by cargo plane in Sarajevo in 1996, with his point man for Bosnia, Kemal Dervis. Dervis, who has worked hard to put together a reconstruction program for the war-t...
Great article. Thanks for sharing information with us, this blog is very interesting,Thank you, Enjoy watcing my website. really nice. You should be the Economic Minister. Thanks for writing, this and the New Yorker piece have been very informative, thank you.china sourcing
A surprising convergence result
Poor countries have access to new technologies already developed elsewhere so should grow more rapidly than richer economies. This is one of the implications of standard growth models, as well as of common sense. But in reality, there is no automatic tendency for economic "convergence" among co...
The party line seems to have shifted from attributing the '07/'08 crisis to a mixture of supply/demand, weather and other factors with commodity markets acting as a catalyst, to a more recent acceptance (I'm thinking of Timmer here, in his interesting work on rice markets) that commodity markets played a bigger role given the inexplicable plunge in prices. I think your work here will be a good addition to that picture. china outsourcing
Was the Global Food Crisis Really a Crisis?
By Derek Headey, guest blogger Have higher food prices hurt the poor, or helped them? So far everything we "know" about this topic comes from simulation studies, all of which estimate that poverty or hunger went up by somewhere between 63-160 million people as a result of higher food prices ...
What would happen if you substituted "contributor" for "voter" in this analysis? The assumption here is that the political system will track the worldview of the median voter; but what if the system is geared to responding to the worldview of the median contributor of money to politicians and their campaigns, would we see some different implications?
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Distributive politcs, economic growth, and the Simpsons
Many moons ago, I wrote a paper (with Alberto Alesina) called “Distributive Politics and Economic Growth,” which remains one of my most heavily cited publications. The paper has a simple idea: in highly unequal societies, the median voter is more likely to demand high taxes on capital, which in...
The case for global discipline is in fact quite weak with beggar-thyself policies. After all, it should not be up to the “global community” to tell individual countries how they ought to weight competing goals. Imposing costs on other countries is not, by itself, a cause for global regulation. (Indeed, economists hardly complain when a country’s trade liberalization harms competitors.) Democracies, in particular, ought to be allowed to make their own “mistakes.” buy from china
"Beggar-thy-neighbor" versus "beggar-thyself" policies
There is an important difference between domestic economic policies that create benefits by imposing costs on other nations ("beggar-thy-neighbor policies") and those whose economic costs are borne primarily at home though they might affect others as well ("beggar-thyself policies"). Beggar-thy-...
A subtle point here is that Washington’s “no bail out” commitment is rendered credible by the direct support residents of California get from Washington, DC. This support limits the economic/political fallout in California. By contrast, the bankruptcy of the Greek government condemns the entire Greek financial system and sends the entire Greek economy down the drain. buy from china
Why is the bankruptcy of the Greek government different from the bankruptcy of California?
The European Union, and the Eurozone in particular, has impressive institutional achievements to its name. We have a European Parliament, European Commission, European Court of Justice, a set of common regulations that exceeded 100,000 last time I checked (acquis communautaire), and of course t...
I am not sure that it will. Growth in Latin America and Africa is fragile; much of it is making up for lost time rather than real convergence. Asia, I am more optimistic about. But growth in Asia has required unconventional policies (undervalued currencies, industrial policies) that will be difficult to rely on in a world where rich countries are facing economic crises. buy from china
Milton Friedman’s Mixed Legacy
The image most people will retain of Friedman is the smiling, diminutive, unassuming professor holding up a pencil in front of the cameras in “Free to Choose” to illustrate the power of markets. It took thousands of people all over the world to make this pencil, Friedman said – to mine the graph...
Finally, we can downgrade our ambitions with respect to how much international economic integration we can (or should) achieve. So we go for a limited version of globalization, which is what the post-war Bretton Woods regime was about (with its capital controls and limited trade liberalization). It has unfortunately become a victim of its own success. We have forgotten the compromise embedded in that system, and which was the source of its success. china outsourcing
The inescapable trilemma of the world economy
Sometimes simple and bold ideas help us see more clearly a complex reality that requires nuanced approaches. I have an "impossibility theorem" for the global economy that is like that. It says that democracy, national sovereignty and global economic integration are mutually incompatible: we can...
I am not sure that it will. Growth in Latin America and Africa is fragile; much of it is making up for lost time rather than real convergence. Asia, I am more optimistic about. But growth in Asia has required unconventional policies (undervalued currencies, industrial policies) that will be difficult to rely on in a world where rich countries are facing economic crises. china outsourcing
The great divergence, the other way around
As rich economies' prospects dim under their crushing debt burdens and political paralyses, the world's hope for economic dynamism rests with developing nations. These countries had an exceptionally good decade before the global financial crisis struck. And most among them have recovered quickly...
Which leaves China. Will China remain an exception and develop into another Singapore? Or will it go in Tunisia's direction? china outsourcing
Can you get rich without democracy?
Yes if you are an individual, but probably not if you are an entire country. As the figure below shows, there are very few countries that have developed beyond $5,000 in 2005 PPP dollars without becoming democracies somewhere along the way (unless they are an oil economy). This scatter plot co...
In the meantime, UNIDO issued its 2-digit data base (INDSTAT2), which covers many more countries and goes back to the 1960s. So I redid everything with the new data, not without some trepidation -- for you never know what new data will produce. But the results were equally striking and robust. Here is the scatter plot that illustrates the central finding, using the baseline sample (which looks for each country at the latest decade that has data):china sourcing
More on manufacturing convergence
I have blogged before about a rather surprising result (to me at least) regarding productivity convergence in manufacturing. Despite the lack of convergence among economies as a whole, there is apparently quite strong convergence within manufacturing industries. What this means is that manufac...
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