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McEconomics: The price of McDonalds in China
Pettis over at China Financial Markets has a nice little comment on the role of McDonalds in China (and Asia generally). In my view he has it spot on making an excellent observation that I think deserves to be retold. The rest of the article is also interesting. Inflation? Or stagnation? [China Financial Markets] Occasionally [...]
Tougher stance on inflation
On the back of the steep rise in prices of 8.5% in April China announced further monetary tightening. What is more worrying is the suspension of the appreciation of the RMB. This may prove to be counter-productive. The story is covered expertly by the FT (saving me the time). Beijing takes tougher stance to combat [...]
Inflation picking up speed
From Bloomberg. This article sums up nicely the inherent dangers when inflation begins to rise at rates like this. China Inflation Quickens; Close to Fastest Since 1996 May 12 (Bloomberg) — China’s inflation accelerated to close to the fastest pace since 1996 as food prices soared and the government slowed gains by the yuan. Consumer [...]
Who Is To Blame For Fat Chinese Kids? Who Will Be Blamed?
3 weeks ago my staff and I celebrated the opening of the new Wujiang Road food street. It was a great day as we had grown tired of all the other food, but when we got down there we realized that we should have eaten first and then gone down there. 3 Coffee shops – [...]
Photos of Sichuan Before the Earthquake
I spent much of 2005 traveling throughout China on a consulting contract, taking in the sights when I could. Let us not forget what Sichuan offers, once rebuilt. As a reminder to those focused on destruction, here are a few photos I took at 峨眉山 (Mount Emei) and the 樂山大佛 (the great Le Shan Buddha, [...]
Water shortages in China
A snippit on the problems resulting from drought in Liaoning Province. We will see more stories like this in the future. The economic implications are potentially large. Digging wells is a short term solution. Ground water is becoming polluted and in short supply. Once lack of water leads to crop failures the pressure on food [...]
Are There Lessons for Africa from China’s Success Against Poverty?
A recent World Bank working paper considers the differences and similarities between China and Africa and how the former managed to take millions out of poverty and the latter did not. The key line for me from the abstract is in bold and is certainly not rocket science. I have my doubts about the validity [...]
China’s economic development in pictures
This month the National Geographic has a “China Special”. The photographs are always of the very highest quality and the story is a good one. There is a surprising amount of economics in the text and correctly so. China’s Journey [National Geographic] My students wrote essays on paper so cheap and thin that it felt [...]
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