Goopy smog may have smothered Beijing this week, but optimism among foreigners is shining a bright light across China. A temperature inversion resulted in, literally, off-the-charts pollution in the Chinese capital, and the country’s leaders quickly reacted to universal criticism of their decades-old environment-be-damned policies. “Chinese media is all over the story in a remarkably […]
A slight acceleration in Chinese economic growth at the end of last year is reinforcing the common narrative that China’s expansion is a threat to other nations, including the U.S. The bigger danger over the medium term, however, may be a slowdown in Chinese growth — which appears to be more likely than most U.S.-based commentators […]
The $10 Trillion Prize authored by consultants at the Boston Consulting Group digs deeper into the changing consumer landscape in China and India to find out the big, juicy, revenue model that should excite everybody who cares to be in these two markets. And numbers, as always, make for a fascinating reading. Here are some […]
There is the veneer of authority in a map. A splotch of color bordered by cold, static black lines is the world as it is and as it is for all. Maps, however, are an abstraction of reality. We see the world in a particular way and so we splash this vision onto the page. […]
The usual story about African development over the last few decades is, simply, that it hasn’t developed. It is a region mired in permanent poverty—destined by geography or disease burden or corruption or ethnic division to everlasting misery. That story should be placed in the fiction aisle. Quality-of-life measures have been improving for decades across […]
Not too long ago, the only people who would watch votes in the Greek Parliament were those paid to do so as part of their jobs. Over the last couple of years, though, ballots in the historic and often raucous Parliament House have become required viewing for audiences around the world. It seems that every […]
Whilst the economic data shows at least some signs of an anaemic turnaround, China’s corporate results are demonstrating just how difficult things have been. China’s companies are busy reporting their 3rd quarter 2012 results and there have already been some disappointing results – pretty much explained by the general slowdown. Connected to this however, a worrying […]
Africa is undergoing a period of unprecedented economic growth. According to The Economist, six of the ten fastest-growing countries in 2011 were in Africa. Average external debt on the continent has fallen from 63% of GDP in 2000 to 22.2% this year, while average inflation now stands at 8%, down from 15% in 2000. This positive trend […]
Japan Inc is charging into Myanmar. The rush began one night last October, when Myanmar’s new president rolled out a map after dinner to show an aging Japanese power broker a prize that could be Tokyo‘s to develop – a swathe of land nearly as big as Macau. Thein Sein, 67, a former general, had been […]
Africa is no longer the “lost continent” of popular imagination. The region has been growing rapidly for over a decade, the private sector is expanding, and a new class of consumers is wielding considerable spending power. And because of its young and growing population, the sky is the limit for future growth: Between 2010 and […]
looking beyond borders 