Trump is flouting global trade rules with China yet embracing them with the EU – here’s why it matters
Charles Hankla (The Conversation) | Just as America’s trade war with China may be winding down, its troubles with Europe seem to be growing.
World economy
Andrew Yang’s ‘freedom dividend’ echoes a 1930s basic income proposal that reshaped Social Security
Edwin Amenta (The Conversation) | Entrepreneur and political novice Andrew Yang is hoping a wild gambit will help him win the Democratic presidential nomination: give 10 American families US$1,000 a month.
Immigration as pretext
Donato Ndongo Bidyogo | Many warn that the frivolous treatment of the migration problem will cause the “rejection effect”, with intolerance growing and the increase of racism and xenophobia, fertiliser for supremacist theories and Nazi practices.
Airlines 3Q19 earnings preview: slower capacity and improving pricing trends
BOfAML | We modestly update our forecasts reflecting fuel prices and monthly traffic data reports. European airlines in our coverage have reported 6.5% ASK growth on average in 3Q19 and we look for 3.8% in 4Q19. We expect RASK recovery with flat unit revenues in 3Q19 on average and 1.7% yoy improvement in 4Q19.
Dormant systemic risk, buoyant geopolitical risk
Yves Bonzon (Julius Baer) | Some investors and market commentators have interpreted the recent and persistent tensions in overnight repo markets in the US as a potential early warning signal of trouble. They draw parallels with the early warnings in credit market in 2007 right before the Great Financial Crisis. The current situation could actually not be more different: same symptoms, but very different cause.
What’s at stake in Trump’s war on Huawei: control of the global computer-chip industry
Clinton Fernandes (The Conversation) | Silicon Valley may now be more popularly associated with software companies such as Google and Facebook but it takes its name from the material most used to make semiconductors. Semiconductors – or computer chips – power everything from mobile phones to military systems. The semiconductor industry sits at the centre of the modern world. This point is key to appreciating what’s going on in the US government’s battle with Chinese technology giant Huawei.
Russia: Where Macron and Trump agree
Shaun Riordan | We do not usually think of France´s dapper, sophisticated young president, the last hope of European liberal elites, pursuing the same objectives as America´s ageing and overweight bully, the sworn enemy of liberal internationalism. But both Macron and Trump agree on the need to end the conflict in Ukraine and re-integrate Russia into the international community.
How megaprojects are driving cities
Gerardo del Cerro Santamaría (The Conversation) | Megaprojects are reconfigured spaces in which the role of the local, regional, and national elites, as well as the role of national and sometimes transnational capital, is usually prominent. They can include urban regeneration schemes, transport and energy infrastructure, industrial corridors, city clusters, new towns, innovation districts, science and technology parks and sports infrastructure.
IEA: rapid development of solar energy in EU will compensate decline in China
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has fixed the global growth of solar and wind power and other clean energies at double digits for this year. 200 GW of new clean energy capacity is expected to be installed by the end of 2019. The largest part of the new capacity will come from solar energy with 115 GW, despite a small contraction in the China market.
Mark Zuckerberg Learns the Game
Peter Isackson (Fair Observer) | With the integrity of a monopoly to ensure, Mark Zuckerberg, the enfant terrible, has taken a major step forward in becoming a Washington insider.