Homelessness: No shelter from the storm
Jacob Straus | Homelessness continues to plague societies the world over, with legal frameworks needed to tackle it still largely lacking.
In the World
Yellen likely to focus on jobs today; markets get comfort from Bullard: nothing changes
MADRID | The Corner | Markets expect more dovish rhetoric from the Federal Reserve’s chairwoman Janet Yellen, who is addressing a Boston Fed conference on income inequality today. The fact that she has put the issue into the mainstream has earned support from working class communities. Visiting an under-privileged neighborhood on Thursday, she eschewed the chance to talk about monetary policy, but instead listened to stories about layoffs and lost savings. Wall Street took some comfort from the St. Louis Fed President, James Bullard, who said that the Federal Reserve should consider delaying the end of bond purchases, given declining inflation expectations.
China’s Challenge: Growing the Market, Limiting the State
BEIJING | By James A. Dorn via Caixin | In his new book Markets over Mao: The Rise of Private Business in China, Nicholas R. Lardy, one of the world’s leading China experts and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, makes a strong case that the market, not the state, has been the key factor in the country’s remarkable rise. In 1978, Beijing began to loosen its grip on economic life and paramount leader Deng Xiaoping recognized the failure of central planning as a development model. Today China is the world’s second-largest economy, and the range of choices open to consumers has greatly expanded under economic liberalization and trade.
Are global growth fears over-stated?
MADRID | The Corner | Gloomy inflation data in the eurozone prompted a debate about recovery losing momentum. But while tackling disinflation should be a priority, we shouldn’t be too worried about growth. “Leading indicators of growth are not – at present – consistent with any major slowdown in the world economy. Indicators of financial and monetary conditions and many industrial metal prices are relaying a similar message,”analysts at UBS commented on Thursday.
Inflation in China falls further amid lower commodity prices
HONG KONG | From Barclays analysts | China inflation fell further in September, to 1.6%, below consensus (1.7%), but in line with our forecast. The key downside drivers were lower commodity prices, and declining food inflation. Inflation has now fallen to its lowest levels since January 2010, a 56-month low.
The Fed tightens and then is surprised with the outcome!
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | For the last 16 months the Fed has been on “tightening mode”. This is very clearly reflected in the chart for inflation expectations above. When Bernanke started the “taper talk” in May 13 inflation expectations came down and stayed down. Following the June 14 FOMC meeting, dedicated to discussions of “policy normalization” inflation expectations dived! How can they be surprised with the consequences.
China: The complexities of the state-industrial complex
BEIJING | By Chen Changhua via Caixin | Efforts to introduce a genuine mixed-share ownership structure to state-owned enterprises in China have been obstructed by organizational conflicts of interest
Spoilt Chinese SOEs need to move forward
Out-dated, inefficient and malfunctioning are some of the adjectives normally used to refer to Chinese SOEs. Their unhealthy financial situation poses a great threat to the future growth of the world’s second biggest economy. The Communist Party is pushing for a fresh set of reforms to make them able to compete globally. For decades, these companies knew little about competition or innovation, until today.
Ebola: when things get messier
MADRID | By Álex García.
Export-led economies lose steam
MADRID | By JP Marín Arrese | No need to wait for IMF forecasts. The hasty downfall in oil prices signals a steep deterioration in most export-led economies, ranging from China to Brazil. An upsurge in the US dollar coupled with prospects of more stringent credit conditions, are rapidly changing the global mood towards risk aversion. As hot money flees emerging countries bogging down their investment plans, main suppliers of capital goods such as Germany become increasingly crippled.