After suffering severe labour shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems unlikely that advanced-economy farmers will return to business as usual. Instead, many will probably attempt to mitigate the risks stemming from dependence on foreign seasonal workers by automating more of their operations. Read Here – Project Syndicate
Either Beijing will find innovative ways that benefit debtor nations or it will be seen as just another predatory lender in a long history of empire builders. The backlash to China’s presence in lands around the world will soon follow, along with fractured political and economic relationships that become difficult, if not impossible, to mend. […]
US President Donald Trump has warned China that it should face consequences if it was “knowingly responsible” for the coronavirus pandemic, as he ratcheted up criticism of Beijing over its handling of the outbreak. “It could have been stopped in China before it started and it wasn’t, and the whole world is suffering because of it,” […]
Ours is the age of the rule by ‘strong men’: leaders who believe that they have been elected to deliver the will of the people. Woe betide anything that stands in the way, be it the political opposition, the courts, the media or brave individuals. While these demonised guardians of freedom are belittled, brushed aside […]
Governments around the world are wrestling with when — and how — to ease the restrictions designed to control the coronavirus pandemic amid rising unemployment and with many of their citizens struggling to make ends meet. Mandatory lockdowns to stop the spread of the new virus, which has so far infected almost 2.3 million people […]
India has stepped up scrutiny of investments from companies based in neighbouring countries, in what is widely seen as a move to stave off takeovers by Chinese firms during the coronavirus outbreak. India’s trade ministry said in a notification dated April 17 the changes to federal rules on investment were meant to curb “opportunistic takeovers/acquisitions”. […]
President Donald Trump wants to get as many Americans back into the workplace as quickly as possible, but every metric he laid out this week for reopening the country has major flaws. Diagnostic testing has improved, but still lags behind what most public health experts say will be needed to keep the virus at bay. […]
Few nations are truly prepared for a pandemic of this nature and scale. India does possess some advantages in terms of the state’s decades of experience when it comes to fighting communicable diseases and natural disasters. But it also has the challenge of responding to this pandemic while continuing to battle legacy health challenges. Its […]
The global economic consequences of COVID-19 would inevitably slow Russian economic growth. A prolonged collapse in oil prices would almost certainly push the economy into recession. Putin’s promises evaporated. In these circumstances, Putin needs to raise and stabilize oil prices. The question was how to do that without appearing to yield to Saudi or American […]
China’s economy shrank by 6.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2020, the first contraction since the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976, confirming the economic damage done by the coronavirus pandemic. Over the first three months of the year, the world’s second largest economy faced an extensive shutdown as it battled to […]
looking beyond borders 