Global demand for lithium is on the rise thanks to its use in electric car batteries. That could mean big business for Chile, which has near 23% of the world’s reserves. A leftover dictatorship-era statute, however, threatens to stand in the way.
Category: Economy
In most Chinese cities, retail sales peak between Christmas and Chinese New Year. In Beijing, however, the spike tends to occur in March – at least as far as luxury brands are concerned. Could it be the effect of a certain annual event always held this mo
Accelerated by the financial crisis, Europe has seen a trend for small businesses looking to make more cashless exchanges. Nantes is becoming Europe’s first major city to experiment with a virtual currency that can be used both businesses and ind
Analysis: Because it’s not making news anymore, people think the problem of under-capitalization of big banks in the West has been taken care of. Not so. Indeed, big banks continue to behave like companies who cause environmental damage. We all must cover
Multinationals like Canada’s Barrick Gold are making money hand over fist in mineral-rich South America. Proponents say the mines provide jobs and tax revenue. Many local communities, however, oppose the mega-projects on environmental grounds.
While some cities take a bigger-is-better approach to high-rise construction, Moscow is looking to curb enthusiasm for skyscrapers in much the same way as Saint Petersburg. Proposed regulations would impose a 75-meter height limit for most of the historic
Categories
Supply-Side Economics, Chinese-Style
Op-Ed: The latest Chinese government plan to tax the rich to bridge the income divide will have the opposite effect. In China — perhaps even more than the West — markets must be free, taxes low and Leviathan reigned in to increase and share wealth acros
Norway was the first European country to introduce a quota system for women managers. Results are now in – and they demonstrate that women may, indeed, have a fundamentally different approach to doing business. Wish your boss a happy International Women&a
As their traditional customer base – groups of school children – shrinks, Germany’s hostels are trying to woo a new market: whole families. In places like the Baltic Sea island of Rügen, some hostels have transformed themselves into affordable, kid-friend
Crotone was once called the “Milan of the South,” thanks to its bustling industry and entrepreneurial spirit. But over the past 20 years, the Calabrian city has seen its factories close and locals forced onto welfare. A snapshot of every
Mexico’s bloody drug wars could mean new opportunities for private military companies like XE Services, better known as Blackwater, which became infamous in Iraq. Latin America provides such firms with both quality recruits and new business opportunities.
South Africa may have put the “S” in BRICS, but unlike the other members of the emerging nations’ group, it is facing weak growth and structural disadvantages that include apartheid’s legacy and the toll of AIDS on economic reju
In 2011, Europe replaced the United States as China’s biggest overseas investment for the first time ever. European companies have caught the eye of a Chinese economy that is rapidly moving into more advanced sectors.
Amsterdam-based parcel delivery company TNT Express is struggling and looks ripe for a takeover. American giant UPS has already made a bid. TNT has refused the offer, but it may just be a matter of time before UPS – or its arch rival, FedEx – scoops it up
Essay: After a series of bans on game shows and dance contests, Chinese television now faces new restrictions on foreign programming. But even beyond its wariness of the outside world, Beijing doesn’t understand that stifling popular culture can
Maria das Graças Foster, 56, has recently taken over as president of Latin America’s largest company, Brazilian oil giant Petrobras. Trained as a mechanical engineer, the new CEO was nominated for the post by another powerful Brazilian woman, President Di
Compared to the West, China’s labor market is still remarkably favorable to workers, as overall demand of qualified employees still outstrips supply. Still, emerging soft spots in the manufacturing and construction sectors could be the first sign
Deirdre McCloskey, an acclaimed professor and former University of Chicago protégé of Milton Friedman, stunned the academic world with a sex change in 1995. But that’s just one interesting part of a woman now focused on a more “human&
Op-Ed: After being forced to shelve their proposal for a European-appointed Greek budget commissioner, the German-France “Merkozy” duo now are floating the idea of a special account for Greek debt. But this is just one more symbolic atte
Essay: Nestlé board chairman Peter Brabeck used an exchange during the recent World Economic Forum in Davos to take a dig at Europeans who aren’t as devoted to work as he is. Of course, some also don’t pull in seven-figure salaries.
For the world’s major humanitarian aid organizations, saving human lives has a core business, as well as altruistic, element. Supply and demand matter. So do prices. And like in any other major industry, there are huge logistical concerns to factor in as
Op-Ed: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, daughter of a Lutheran pastor, thinks Europe should save its way out of the current crisis. What the continent should do instead is grow its way to prosperity, even if that means passing along some debt to the next
Officials in Lima are hoping to start a low-cost, no frills airline to get lower-income Peruvians off of buses and into the air. If history is a guide, there are few guarantees the ambitious state-run airline scheme will work.
Swiss authorities have spent years investigating a jet-setting Pakistani man whose Zurich-based family somehow qualified for nearly $10,000 a month in social benefits. A Swiss court has finally delivered a verdict in the high-profile fraud case.
Starting next year, the German government would like to put a little money in the pockets of stay-at-home parents. The E.U. Commmission in Brussels doesn’t approve, saying the bonus scheme encourages mothers not to rejoin the workforce.
China’s model from the last decade of low-end exports is being undercut by cheap labor in neighboring Vietnam and India. With a weaker 2012 predicted, the future of Chinese manufacturing looks in need of a major overhaul.
Islamic investors must obey the Koran’s prohibitions on dealing in a variety of activities. That can include everything from trading in derivatives to hocking pork products. Düsseldorf-based commercial bank WestLB has just launched an investment
Argentina could soon jump on the shale gas bandwagon. The South American country has one of the world’s most significant shale gas reserves. And its government has finally moved to make production more cost-effective. Investors are starting to line up.
More than ever before, the economic leaders gathered for this year’s annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos are turning their attention from finance to science – or at least recognizing how intimately the two are related.
By some accounts, private jet traffic around the Swiss mountain resort of Davos has doubled for this year’s edition of the World Economic Forum. Airport parking spots for lear jets are running out…just like the locals’ patience.
Germany is Europe’s only country that has roared back to pre-crisis employment numbers. Still, the International Labor Organization accuses German exporters of being no less than the structural cause of the current euro zone problems.
With new no-nonsense Prime Minister Mario Monti committed to cracking down on tax evasion, La Stampa explores the time-honored (and cutting-edge) tricks that some Italian merchants use to duck requirements that all purchases are registered in official sal
A new documentary film takes food giant Nestlé to task for its water bottling practices. Critics say the multinational is busy extracting ground water for its bottled brands and leaving locals, often in poor corners of the world, with the dirty remains.
Analysis: A French look at the euro zone’s prospects after Standard and Poor’s (S&P) downgraded the public debt of half of the euro zone. Not only did France lose equal partnership with Germany, Italy risks sinking further into crisis. Bu
Brazil is portrayed as the poster child for Latin American potential, while Mexico is the symbol for what’s gone wrong. But with near identical growth rates and similarly ambivalent trading relationships with China, Brazil and Mexico share simila
Lawyers for both Philipp Hildebrand, the recently resigned president of the Swiss National Bank, and for Bank Sarasin, a Swiss private bank, may take separate actions on privacy grounds against the Zurich weekly Weltwoche that broke the story that led to
Good news for people who can “only” afford cars like the Mercedes S-Class or Porsche 911 Turbo S. Ferrari, Lamborghini and other ultra-deluxe automakers are starting to market models that run in the $200,000 range.
A sports collection, new fabrics, fewer gold buttons and an influx of Indian money have Escada back on track. The German clothing company still isn’t back to break-even, but sales – up 7% last year – look set to keep rising.
The Fitch ratings agency offers the latest vote of no-confidence on Italy’s finances, as the situation only grows worse in Greece. Germans try to measure whether the vicious cycle of bailouts will ever end.
Volkswagen sales in the U.S. are surging, led by the new Jetta line, which wasn’t much of a hit back in Germany. With its new popular designs and longstanding reputation for durability, VW is notching its best American results in a decade.