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Posted: 6-10 Aug 07

Boardroom: 
The richest man in the world--The son of a Mexico City shopkeeper has built a staggering $59 billion fortune. The inside story of how he made it to the top,  by S Mehta,  Fortune,  6 Aug 07

South Asia floods displace millions, spark fears of widespread disease, by E Wax,  Washington Post (free registr reqd),  5 Aug 07

Pakistan shares win favor among value hunters:  In spite of its woes, it is beginning to attract attention of analysts who say investors have misjudged political risk, leaving its stock market a bargain compared to regional peers, MarketWatch, 3 Aug 07

What
other financial centers are competing vs New York & London?:
A handful of cities, many of them in Asia, are currently jockeying for position as regional or global fin. hubs,  Council on Foreign Relations, 12 Jul 07 ;

Diana Farrell:  Tremors shake
global capital markets--There are con-
cerns that NY is losing its place as world's financial hub to London. But other equally seismic shifts in world's capital markets are taking place, Business Week, 5 Mar 07; 
and

Mapping the global capital markets: The 3rd annual update finds 80% of capital flows are bet. US, UK, & euro area. And while global flows to emerging markets are growing rapidly, they still account for just 10%, McKinsey, Jan '07 (Link to: Info--WSJ | FT [pdf])

Businesses looking to invest in emerging markets should look
beyond BRIC nations, new report suggests:  Brazil, Russia, India and China have definite attractions, but they may not always be optimum invest-
ment choice, PwC, 8 Jul 07 (Link to:
PwC report)

Book value: Niall Ferguson--
The least among us: Review of Paul Col-lier's The Bottom Billion -- The world is no longer one-sixth rich and five-sixths poor, but will soon be more like one-sixth rich, two-thirds OK & one-sixth poor, NYT (free registr reqd), 1 Jul 07;  and

From our archive:  Countries
emerging from conflict -- New research on what sustains peace,  World Bank,  8 May 07

Horizons: Lawrence Lindsey--
Fear and greed: Why US housing credit crisis is worse than you think --'The central bank should let the credit market correct itself freely, provide ample liquidity for it to do so, but charge market participants for the privilege,'  Intl Economy, May '07 [pdf]

Crash course: Qualifications and
lifelong learning--Learning one set of skills at school/university is no longer enough to carry people through-
out their working life. But there is one basic skill that is becoming in-
creasingly important, OECD Policy Brief, Apr '07 [pdf]

Nook & cranny:  Thomas Schelling--An astonishing sixty years - The
legacy of Hiroshima:  The most spectacular event of the past half-century is one that did not occur,  Nobel Prize Lecture,  8 Dec 05

                            
Posted: 30 Jul-3 Aug 07

Editorial:  Market turmoil -- A good time
for a squeeze:  Bankers and investors might not agree, but the recent sell-off in financial markets is good news,  Economist,  2 Aug 07;  and

Robert Shiller:  That hazy, crazy bubbly
feel of liquidity -- We often hear that 'the world is awash with liquidity', and that this justifies ex-
pecting asset prices to continue rising,  Project Syndicate (via Japan Times), 20 Jul 07

Massive
peacekeeping force in Darfur by Dec: After 9 mos.of intense negotiations, UN agrees on a resolution to send what will become the world's largest peacekeeping force to Sudan,  Der Spiegel,  1 Aug 07

Editorial: 
A new owner -- A change in control won't change Journal standards,  Wall Street Journal,  1 Aug 07 (with 'open' links to related WSJ articles at bottom of page);  and

Newsroom:  Big Media,
big changes -- The deal would upset the Big Media status quo across several continents. Here's who wins & loses in a world where News Corp takes over Dow Jones,  Business Week,
2 Jul 07

Asean struggles to forge closer ties:  Rifts among Southeast Asian nations over a new regional charter threaten to undermine efforts to forge closer economic integration,  FT,  30 Jul 07  (Related: Freedom House on Asean)

Playing field: 
Iraq's Asian Cup win transcends sport--If ever there was an argument that sports can succeed where politicians, armies & even religions may fail, then the Asian Cup '07 provides a compelling case, Reuters (via Guardian/UK), 30 Jul 07

Peter Tasker: The
Japan syndrome--Is Japan slipping back into global irrelevance? Frustrated investors may well be asking themselves that after market's unimpressive performance of past 18 mos.,Newsweek,
30 Jul 07

Gregory Mankiw: Fair taxes? Depends what you
mean by 'fair'--Fair-
ness is not an econ concept. If you want to talk fairness, you have to leave economics & go to philiosophy,  NYT (via Harvard site), 15 Jul 07 [pdf]
                                                                        
G del Castillo & E Phelps:  Policymaking for
war-torn nations--With-
out both dynamism and inclusion, the path to peace will be elusive,  Project Syndicate (via Taipei Times),  12 Jul 07

N Birdsall & P Hakim: A White House focus on social justice
in Latin America? -- US's limited attention to the region has typically focused on free trade, anti-narcotics trafficking, and security,  Ctr Glob Dev, 
9 Jul 07

Aneel Karnani: 
Microfinance misses its mark--Microcredit is newest silver bullet for alleviating poverty. But contrary to hype about it, the best way to eradicate poverty is to create jobs and to increase worker productivity, Stanford Social Innov Rev, Jun-Aug '07

State room:  Gregory Treverton --
Risks and riddles:  The Soviet Union was a puzzle. Al Qaeda is a mystery. Why we need to know the difference,  Smithsonian Magazine (via Rand site),  1 Jun 07

Don Evans:  The potential of
Chinese consumers to help cut the US trade deficit can no longer be ignored,  South China Morning Post/HK (via Fin Svcs Forum site),  22 May 07

                               
Posted: 23-27 Jul 07

Stocks
tumble in Asia on US housing woes:  Shares prices tumble across Asia on new fears that woes in US housing sector could affect the global economy,  Agence France-Presse (via Ch NewsAsia/Sing.), 27 Jul 07

Where's the bottom?:  As housing woes spread to the corporate credit market, the economic outlook is sure to decline.Just how much worse can things get before they get better?,  Business Week,  27 Jul 07

Financial market update:  Banks and corporations in emerging markets have tapped foreign capital markets leading to overly rapid borrowing, IMF Global Markets Analysis Div,  25 Jul 07 [pdf]  (Link to:  World Economic Outlook Update)

Emerging debt -- Argentina hardest hit as risk aversion grows:  Fears that US subprime mortgage crisis could spill over into other risky asset classes drive emerging debt risk spreads over US Treasuries to widest level in 4 mos., Reuters, 24 Jul 07

Govts get bolder in buying equity stakes:  Foreign govts are investing aggressively in US & European cos. The deals could prompt political backlash & may bid up global prices for speculative assets, Wall St J (via Moneyweb/S Africa), 24 Jul 07

London vs New York smackdown:  The real question facing NY and London is not about which city is winning a two-way race but how both can position themselves, with new contenders around the world vying for a shot, Fortune, 23 Jul 07;  and

Hong Kong vs Shanghai--Global rivals: Shanghai is still lagging behind Hong Kong as a truly global city. But will it overtake its rival in the race for financial supremacy?,  BBC News,  27 Jun 07

Paul Samuelson:  Searching for a new golden
economic center--Dra-
matic proposals from either the left or right will once again be proved in the long run to be fools' gold only,  Intl Herald Tribune,  17 Jul 07
(Coffee/tea break: U Michigan site--Samuelson's "
family tree")

Peter Allgeier: 
Brazil, India walked away from superb opportunity (letter to ed.)--'Bhagwati & Panagariya have a fundamental misunder-
standing of what transpired at trade meeting in Germany,' Wall St J (via State Dept), 17 Jul 07; 
and

J Bhagwati & A Panagariya: 
Doha - Why the key to its success lies in Washington:  US is to blame for the recent breakdown of WTO negotiations, but it could get the talks back on track, VoxEU, 9 Jul 07

Ronald MacDonald:
Currency exchange (letter to ed.)-'I would like to comment on your discussion relating to the behavioral equilibrium ex-
change rate (BEER) approach to calculating equilibrium exch. rates,'  Economist, 14 Jul 07 (Related: IMF--
China's currency)

Kenneth Rogoff: 
Foreign holdings of US debt:  Is US economy vul-
nerable? -- Many observers are asking whether indebtedness to for-
eigners might pose any hidden threats to econ or even to natl security, Testimony before House Budget Cmte (via Brookings), 26 Jun 07

Sebastian Mallaby:  The
next globalization backlash -- Wait till the Kremlin starts buying US stocks,  Washington Post (free registr reqd), 25 Jun 07

S Patrick & K Brown: 
Greater than the sum of its parts? Assessing 'whole of govt' approaches to fragile states -- We look at how seven govts - US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France & Sweden - are seeking to help these states, Ctr Glob Dev, 25 Jun 07

Abhijit Banerjee: 
Inside the machine -- Toward a new development economics:  Quesnay probably did not realize when he wrote in 1763 about what 'propels the economic machine', he was launching what would become dominant metaphor in econ, Boston Rev, Mar-Apr '07

Boardroom:  Shane Greenstein--The high cost of
a cheap lesson:  A lesson learned in biz is valuable when only one firm uses it. A lesson loses its value as it becomes a commodity,  IEEE Micro (Inst Electr & Electro Engr)[via Northwestern site, pdf], Feb '07

                               
Posted: 16-20 Jul 07

Portfolio:  Jeremy Siegel --
Greenback mountain:  Central banks are moving to diversify their huge dollar reserves. Not surprisingly, this is a source of considerable anxiety for capital markets,  Time,  19 Jul 07

Major exporters
continue bribing abroad:  OECD convention on com-bating bribery needs greater enforcement, says new report, Transpar-
ency Intl, 18 Jul 07 (Related: World Bank-
Governance Matters 2007)

Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu announce an historic
group of world leaders:  Mandela announces formation of this new group of 10 founding world leaders on the occasion of his 89th birthday,  Global Elders, 18 Jul 07 [pdf]

Egyptian firm to invest in
N Korean cement plant: An Egyptian group seals a $115 mln deal to invest in a N Korean cement plant,  Agence France-Presse (via Turkish Press), 16 Jul 07 (Related: Peterson Inst--Famine in N Korea)

Orville Schell:  China's
industrial nightmare--The Western media have a habit of going on feeding frenzies. Ironically, the latest frenzy con-
cerns food itself, Proj Syndicate (via Daily Times/Pakistan), 13 Jul 07

Portfolio:  The
roar (and the risk) of emerging markets--Outperform-
ance has made emerging-market funds very attractive to foreign in-
vestors, some of whom may not be attuned to risks involved in hold-
ing them, NYT (free registr reqd), 8 Jul 07

Banking dangerously: An international bank thought there were profits to be had in Afghanistan. It was right, but making that money can get scary,  by M Bahree,  Forbes,  25 Jun 07

Lawrence Summers:  Harness market forces to
share prosperity--It is not credible to argue that goal of policy should be only to increase size of economy & that addressing questions of its distribution is populist or divisive, FT, 25 Jun 07 (Link to: Letters--Rizzo | Laurent)

Ex-investment bank economist urges prudence
in Turkish vote:  An economist proclaiming 'there's no such thing as a free lunch' probably isn't unusual. What is unusual is where & to whom Mehmet Simsek is proclaiming it, Bloomberg, 25 Jun 07 (Related: Today's Zaman)

William Easterly:  Africa's
poverty trap -- 'There is a sad law I have noticed in my economics career: the poorer the country, the poorer the economic analysis applied to it,' Wall St J (via NYU site), 23 Mar 07 (Link to: IMF's letter | Easterly's reply) [pdf]

From our archive: 
A Note to our valued Guests--'Anecdotal evidence suggests that some individuals and corporations are using intellectual property and other laws to silence other online users,'Chilling Effects, 2 Nov 06
                               
Posted: 9-13 Jul 07

William Easterly:  The ideology
of development--The failed ideologies of last century have come to an end. But a new one has risen to take their place - and it promises a solution to all the world's ills,  Foreign Policy, Jul-Aug '07  (Link to: Rodrik--Easterly takes on...everyone)

Portfolio:  Barton Biggs -- Echoing the
crash of '87:  There is an old Russian saying - 'Ignore the past and you will lose an eye; dwell on the past and you will lose both of them',  Newsweek,  9-16 Jul 07

M Goldstein & N Lardy: 
China's fiscal reality (letter to ed.)--It is not an either-or choice bet. changing the exchange rate in China and redu-
cing US budget deficit,  WashPost (free registr reqd),  7 Jul 07 (Link to:
WP editorial)

Jean Pisani-Ferry:  Challenges for
de Rato's successor -- Instead of leaving it to fin. diplomats' negotiations behind closed doors, Europe should put in place a transparent and proper process for his selection,  VoxEU, 6 Jul 07

Coffee/tea break:  UN group confirms that
it is not involved in 'New 7 wonders of world' campaign,  Unesco, 6 Jul 07 (Link to: 7 wonders --Ency Britannica & Univ S Florida site | New 7 wonders | World Heritage List)

David Wessel:  Princeton economist says lack of civil liberties, not poverty,
breeds terrorism -- Acc. to Alan Krueger, the conventional wisdom that poverty breeds terrorism is backed by surprisingly little hard evidence, WSJ, 5 Jul 07

M Albright & H de Soto: 
Giving the poor their rights--The poor have no choice but to accept insecurity as a way of life. But when govts grant people legal means to control their assets, they empower them, Time, 5 Jul 07

Michael Spence: 
Global imbalances diverging--The combination of insufficient bilateral policy commitment & intl coordination raises risk of disruptions in gradual journey to a more balanced world,  Business Standard (India), 30 Jun 07

Trade economist wins first
Albert Hirschman Prize: Rodrik is selected from a field of 31 nominees for innovative approach linking trade and the public interest,  Social Science Res. Council,  4 Apr 07  (Related: Prospect--Rhetoric of reform | HUPr--Rhetoric of Reaction)

Lessons from emerging-market leaders:  Investment manager Antoine van Agtmael advises learning fresh branding and marketing strategies from non-Western nations,  Business Week,  10 Jan 07

Jeffrey Frankel: 
International currency rankings--Will the Euro soon rival or surpass dollar as world's leading intl reserve currency? And what could be the implications if it does?,  Kennedy School Insight,  26 May 06

                           
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