Category: Economy

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Economy Future

Facebook, A Black Market For Five-Star Amazon Reviews

SAN FRANCISCO — On Amazon, customer comments can help a product surge in popularity. The online retail giant says that more than 99 percent of its reviews are legitimate because they are written by real shoppers who aren’t paid for them. But a Washington Post examination found that for some popular product categories, such as Bluetooth headphones and speakers, the vast majority of reviews appear to violate Amazon’s prohibition on paid reviews. Such reviews have certain characteristics, such as repetitive wording that people probably cut and paste in. Many of these fraudulent reviews originate on Facebook, where sellers seek shoppers […]

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Economy Ideas Trump And The World

Economic History Lesson: Trump’s Protectionism Will Not Pay

Economic History Lesson: Trump's Protectionism Will Not Pay
Frank May/ZUMA

The U.S. trade deficits that have prompted the Trump administration to raise tariffs have a result of the universal use of dollars and are unrelated to ‘unjust’ trading practices.

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Economy Eyes on the U.S. Society Trump And The World

Not Just Trump: More Economists Questioning Free-Trade Orthodoxy

Containing enthusiasm
Containing enthusiasm Ryu Seung-Il/ZUMA

For decades, economists scorned protectionism as a losing proposition. Now some have begun to admit that not everyone benefits from open markets.

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Economy Eyes on the U.S. Future

Got AI? Connected Cows, Artificial Intelligence, Your Milk

Cows with their 'FitBits' that control Ida
Cows with their "FitBits" that control Ida Connecterra Facebook Page

‘Cow Fitbits’ and artificial intelligence are coming to the dairy farm, but some farmers aren’t impressed.

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Economy Food / Travel

When Your Millennial Employee Leaves And Wants To Come Back

More and more millennials are deciding to 'take a break' from their careers to find themselves
More and more millennials are deciding to "take a break" from their careers to find themselves Steven Lewis

The new generations in the job market have a much more fluid relationship with their employer. How should HR respond?

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Economy Future Ideas

Bitcoin, A Logical Return To Finance Of The Middle Ages

Bitcoin sign in Boston
Bitcoin sign in Boston Tim Pierce

-Analysis- PARIS — Michiel Van Aarnhem is a young and elegant advisor to the Dutch finance minister. He’s also an award-winning video producer. The educational video Bitcoin, Money of the Future?, which he made with his friend Jason Halbgewachs, a Justice Ministry official, took first prize in the European Central Bank (ECB)-sponsored Euro Video Challenge […]

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Economy Ideas

Davos, Searching For A New Social Contract

A view on the mountains in Davos
A view on the mountains in Davos Max Pixel

The global economy is doing wonderfully well. And yet, its key players are wary. Why? Because for all the good news about GDP growth, there are signs of deepening divisions in society, and a sense that for many people around the world, life will be harder for their children than it has been for themselves. […]

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Economy Society

Take Pride In Your ‘Bullshit Job’ — It’s The Future Of Capitalism

Bullshit jobs reflect the impossibility to name tasks that are more and more intangible.
Bullshit jobs reflect the impossibility to name tasks that are more and more intangible. Raw Pixel

Some see the invention of bogus-sounding professions as a sign that work has become less and less necessary. It may also just mean that capitalism is being transformed.

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Economy Future

Why The World Can No Longer Ignore Bitcoin

Blockchain servers used in Bitcoin transactions
Blockchain servers used in Bitcoin transactions Marko Ahtisaari

-Analysis- PARIS — The whole world has been talking about it for over a week, and yet, — admit it — you still don’t quite get what all the Bitcoin fuss is about. You know it’s a virtual currency. But what is the point of having a currency you can barely use to pay for […]

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Economy Future

Central Banks Are Not Cut Out For Cryptocurrencies

A Bitcoin ATM in Singapore
A Bitcoin ATM in Singapore Xinhua/ZUMA

NEW YORK — Should central banks embrace cryptocurrencies, or even pioneer their own? In a nutshell, no. Crypto assets are an unusual innovation, still in flux and often poorly understood. Trying to centralize them in a bureaucracy is exactly the wrong way to go. Yet China’s central bank claims it is working toward a blockchain-based digital currency. Singapore has already experimented in this direction. The phrase “Fedcoin” is sometimes bandied about, though I’ve seen no concrete sign of the U.S. Federal Reserve jumping on this bandwagon. In its recent quarterly review, the Bank of International Settlements asked central banks to […]

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Economy Ideas

Black Friday Backlash From The Rest Of The World

A demonstration on Black Friday in a local site of Amazon in Leipzig, Germany
A demonstration on Black Friday in a local site of Amazon in Leipzig, Germany Sebastian Willnow/DPA/ZUMA

Droves of customers stampeding through large department stores on Black Friday was once a uniquely American phenomena. But the traditional day-after Thanksgiving shopping sale event has recently gained traction in other countries that have no connection to the American holiday. The insatiable consumerism that fuels American capitalism, it seems, is a more viable export than […]

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Economy Food / Travel

Bedouins Bring Tourists Back To Sinai, Steer Clear Of Terror

Tourists watch the sunrise on Mt. Sinai
Tourists watch the sunrise on Mt. Sinai Meng Tao/Xinhua/ZUMA

In light of the devaluation of the Egyptian pound and increasingly difficult visa processes, more and more Egyptians are turning to domestic tourism. Yet, while tourists continue for the most part to visit South Sinai, there are still widespread security concerns over travel in the rest of the peninsula, particularly areas of North Sinai, where […]

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Economy Future Geopolitics

R&D And Innovation, A Patent Failure In Latin America

Tech Cocktail conference in Buenos Aires
Tech Cocktail conference in Buenos Aires TechCo

In spite of dynamic consumer figures, Latin America lags when it comes to investment in research and development, those crucial agents of social and economic development.

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Economy Ideas

Xi Jinping’s Second Term: It’s The Economy, Stupid

A mural of Xi Jinping
A mural of Xi Jinping Thierry Ehrmann

Will China’s unfulfilled promises of real market reforms finally come to pass? Eyes on the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, opening on Oct. 18.

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Economy Ideas

Why It’s Time For A Marshall Plan For Technology

An Internet cafe in northwest China
An Internet cafe in northwest China Liu Xin/Color China Photos/ZUMA

-Analysis- SAO PAULO — The idea of economic planning dominated the imagination of 20th-century economists. Unlike the classical liberal view, the planning concept supports clear government intervention in the spontaneous course of markets. By implementing one plan or another, the theory goes, governments can speed up a process or correct a wrong course. Plans are […]

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Economy Ideas

A Tough Choice For Brazilians: Learn English Or Mandarin

English or Mandarin?
English or Mandarin? Tannis Toohey/Toronto Star via ZUMA

The answer from Chinese professionals may surprise you…

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Economy Ideas

The Post-Western World Is Still A Messy Place

Buried deep
Buried deep wiredforlego

The West is in relative decline, especially compared to Asia, but no obvious alternative ‘system’ has emerged.

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Economy Society

Adjö​ Big Blue Box Stores, A Slick New Look For IKEA

New design of the future Ikea store in Nice, France
New design of the future Ikea store in Nice, France Wilmotte & associés / IKEA France

NICE — You can spot an IKEA store from a mile away: The classic blue-and-yellow box design of every outlet of the Swedish home goods giant is as much a part of its identity as the quirky names of its chairs and the meatballs at the snack bar. Get ready, though, because IKEA’s look is […]

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Economy Future

Mixed Feelings From The Masses Awaiting Tesla’s New Model 3

Waiting for Tesla
Waiting for Tesla Misael Virgen/ZUMA

PALO ALTO — While his high-school classmates were blowing their money on Chipotle burritos and concert tickets, Truman Hale was saving up for a Tesla. In March of last year, after years of penny pinching, he plunked down a $1,000 deposit on a Model 3. Now a 21-year-old student at Arizona State University, he’s eager for more information about what will be his first car, which he hopes will be delivered before graduating in December 2018. “I want to only own electric cars,” he said. “I’m riding a bike because I’m saving for this car.” “The lack of information received […]

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Economy Geopolitics

African Blood Diamonds For Sale On Facebook And WhatsApp

African Blood Diamonds For Sale On Facebook And WhatsApp

They don’t hide in the abyss of the Dark Web. From Bangui, Beirut, Bordeaux or elsewhere, they use social media to promote their products and services. They are blood diamond community managers from the Central African Republic, traffickers of gems that cannot be legally exported and that are for sale on Facebook and Whatsapp. One […]

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Economy Society

Greek Debts: Is It Time To Let The Venus De Milo Go Home?

The Venus de Milo on display in the Louvre
The Venus de Milo on display in the Louvre Britchi Mirela

PARIS — Every day, tourists in the Louvre crowd around the Venus de Milo. The two-meter high armless marble lady is one of the museum’s most renowned pieces of art. But the statue, recovered by a farmer on the Greek island of Milos in 1820, might have to go home soon. The statue of Venus, […]

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Economy Eyes on the U.S.

Trump Conflict Of Interest Questions Wash Up At His Caribbean Villa

A view on the Château des Palmiers
A view on the Château des Palmiers Sotheby's

The sale of property belonging to Mr Trump in the French Antilles could become a problem.

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Economy Ideas

How ‘Standard’ Pricing Became A Thing Of The Past

Shopping in a supermarket in Rome
Shopping in a supermarket in Rome Xu Nizhi/Xinhua/ZUMA

NEW YORK CITY — The 19th-century French sociologist Gabriel Tarde defined the marketplace as a war between buyers and sellers. He called price “a truce” obtained by haggling. It was because of that “war” mentality, he explained in his Selected Papers, that authorities in Europe began fixing prices on goods and services. The goal was […]

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Economy Society

France’s Future, Rural Heartland Struggles To Reinvent Itself

Farmers in Valcivières
Farmers in Valcivières La Ferme des Supeyres Facebook page

Ahead of the high stakes of next week’s French presidential election, a visit to ‘la France profonde,’ deep in the heartland where the country’s fate may be decided.

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Economy Ideas

If Trump Kills NAFTA, ‘Modern Mexico’ May End Up Dead Too

Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the presentation of his book ''Oye, Trump''
Andrés Manuel López Obrador at the presentation of his book ''Oye, Trump'' Luis Cortes/El Universal/ZUMA Wire

For the ordinary Mexican, the free-trade agreement has been a chance to build a modern country based on the rule of law, and, above all, a ticket to economic development. Without it, Mexico could quickly slide backward.

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Economy Ideas

How To Stop Trump From Creating The World’s Biggest Tax Haven

iPad smile in Beijing
iPad smile in Beijing Baetho

With its new president, the United States may now become a massive new fiscal haven for global companies. But France, with its own upcoming elections, could lead Europe in undermining Trump’s plans.

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Economy Society

Beards, Windows, Chinese Migrants: A History Of Bizarre Taxes

What are the most absurd taxes?
What are the most absurd taxes? cafecredit.com

Hipsters beware: beards have been on the list of unusual taxes.

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Economy Society

Universal Basic Income, 5 Experiments From Around The World

In Utrecht, one of the cities experimenting with UBI
In Utrecht, one of the cities experimenting with UBI FaceMePLS

Imagine receiving a check from the government every month. The concept of guaranteed basic income for all citizens has been gaining prominence around the world, leading to referendums and national political debate in several countries. Known by different names, a policy of “universal basic income” (UBI) is a form of government assistance where every citizen […]

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Economy Ideas

Uber Ugliness, From San Francisco To Sao Paulo

Anti-Uber protest in NYC on Feb. 2
Anti-Uber protest in NYC on Feb. 2 Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/ZUMA

Uber is a company built around maximizing customer service and experience — sometimes at any cost. Critics note that the price is paid by those providing the labor, the army of modestly paid freelance drivers around the world who have no guaranteed income and few if any job benefits and protections. But it seems, the […]

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Economy Eyes on the U.S.

Grab Your Wallet, Taking Down Trump With A Retail Boycott

The Ivanka Trump boutique inside Trump Tower in NYC
The Ivanka Trump boutique inside Trump Tower in NYC Bryan R. Smith/CNP/ZUMA

WASHINGTON — Back in October, Shannon Coulter was doing some late-night browsing on the Nordstrom website. Before long, the small-business owner had a nagging feeling about the department store’s line-up of Ivanka Trump apparel and shoes — a brand she couldn’t help but see in a different light amid the unfolding events of the presidential campaign. Just days earlier, news had broken of the explosive Access Hollywood footage in which Donald Trump bragged about groping women without their consent. “Something changed for me when the Trump tapes came out,” Coulter recalled in an interview. “Those words were just ringing in […]

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Economy Eyes on the U.S. Future Trump And The World

A Trump-Era Brain Drain? U.S.-Based Scientists Eye Switzerland

Inside Lausanne's EPFL
Inside Lausanne's EPFL Tommaso Donelli via Instagram

Foreign scientists working in the U.S. are seeking job prospects in Switzerland as they contemplate leaving a country under an unfriendly administration. For one Swiss agency, that’s not necessarily good news.

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Economy Trump And The World

Donald Trump Tears Down Old Right-Left Divide On Free Trade

Crossing from Los Ebanos, Texas to Ciudad Diaz Ordaz, Mexico
Crossing from Los Ebanos, Texas to Ciudad Diaz Ordaz, Mexico John W. Schulze

Trump’s vow to end NAFTA and bring back factories to the U.S. isn’t typical right-wing ideology. Or is it that we’ve misunderstood the purpose of ideology?

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Economy Ideas

World Economy 2017 Forecast: Lost In The (Bretton) Woods

World leaders at the Sept. 4, G20 summit in Hangzhou, China
World leaders at the Sept. 4, G20 summit in Hangzhou, China Bernd Von Jutrczenka/DPA/ZUMA

-Analysis- PARIS — Last year was full of surprises across the world: a spike of protectionist fever in the United States at the instigation of Donald Trump, an anti-globalization wave of populism in developed countries bogged down by mass unemployment, Britain’s planned exit for from the European Union, worries about a widening inequality gap, migration […]

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Economy Eyes on the U.S.

Mexico Reacts To ‘Trump Effect’ After Ford Scraps Plant

Trump supporters in Palm Beach, Florida
Trump supporters in Palm Beach, Florida Allen Eyestone/Palm Beach Post via ZUMA

The Ford Motor Company’s decision not to open an auto plant in Mexico — in a swift reaction to Donald Trump’s offhand threat to slap tariffs on all imported vehicles — is another sign that when the president-elect tweets, people pay attention. It’s also a reminder that Trump doesn’t need to build a wall to […]

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Economy Food / Travel

In Fukushima, An Electronics Maker Bets On Farming Inside Factories

Inside the Panasonic vegetable farm in Singapore
Inside the Panasonic vegetable farm in Singapore Channel Panasonic Screenshot

FUKUSHIMA — In 1970, electronics company Panasonic inaugurated a factory in the Japanese city of Fukushima to assemble radio sets. In the 1980s, when Japanese electronics were at their peak, the site expanded to produce video material and CD players. In 2011, the earthquake that destroyed the Daiichi nuclear power plant left the Panasonic factory […]

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Economy Ideas

What’s Really Behind Venezuela’s Vanishing Banknotes

Where did the banknotes fly away?
Where did the banknotes fly away? Daniel Garrido

Venezuela is not running out of banknotes due to criminal or speculative hoarding.

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Economy Ideas

Export-Dependent Germany Faces Reckoning As Protectionism Spreads

Port of Hamburg
Port of Hamburg Gabriele Diwald

The entire German business model, based on exporting its goods and services, may have to change as populists forces surge in its leading trading partners.

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Economy Eyes on the U.S.

A Post-NAFTA Plan B For Trump Era? Mexico Must Get Serious

President Pena Nieto in Mexico City on Nov. 9
President Pena Nieto in Mexico City on Nov. 9 Juan Carlos Reyes/JMA/ZUMA

-OpEd- MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto recently told a gathering of CEOs at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit that his country sees no need to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the United States. Instead, it merely should be “modernized” or updated. That, he stated, would mean adding […]

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Economy Ideas

Populism Is Bad Economics, Lessons For Donald Trump From Latin America

Opening up the window?
Opening up the window? Daniel Lobo

-Analysis- Populists sometimes have good ideas. Taking advantage of historically low interest rates to launch a stimulus plan, for example, is a good idea. Standing up to China, which is massively subsidizing its steel exports and restricting freedom to invest in the country through law and might, is another good idea. So too is rethinking […]

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Economy Future Geopolitics

Math Is Taking Over The Economy, That’s A Good Thing

Solving everything
Solving everything Stuart Pilbrow

PARIS — Find the distribution of random paths on a directed graph. Of course, when you say it like that, such a problem will hardly excite the masses. But if you had managed to find this mysterious distribution, you would have obtained the PageRank algorithm. And if you have PageRank, you have Google, now the […]

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