China has begun the New Year, 2023, by reopening its economy and freeing its people from the harsh Covid-19 lockdown conditions they had been under for the past couple of years. It had to happen sooner rather than later, I thought. Either the world’s second largest economy would cave in, forcing the government to abandon… Continue reading The Locked-Down Giant Awaketh
It will soon be a year since Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Besides the toll it has taken on Ukrainian lives and livelihoods, there is a huge cost being imposed on countries around the world. In terms of food and energy shortages, and their high prices. Thankfully Ukraine is able to export foodgrains under an agreement… Continue reading When E = R x NT²
In a high-inflation environment, it’s perhaps time to look at how consumers are being affected and how they are managing to cope. In Europe, of course, the impact of the war in Ukraine is being most directly felt, I would imagine. What with temperatures dropping, and prices and interest rates rising. Elsewhere too, it is… Continue reading Wintertime, and the Living Ain’t Easy
We should have seen it coming. The economic slowdown, after a couple of terribly volatile years, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the first year of the Covid pandemic prompted strict lockdowns in many countries adversely impacting the services part of the economy, manufacturing chugged along, even if a little slowly. Thanks to that, international… Continue reading How Advertising Agencies and Brands Should Negotiate 2023
They say a week is a long time in politics, but what a tumultuous month or so it has been for Britain and the world. It was political upheaval and changes prompted by some very irresponsible economics. If one includes the leadership changes that went before this most recent one, Britain begins to resemble Italy.… Continue reading Britain’s Time of Reckoning
With so many summits and conferences going on this month in the Global South, and many of them in Asia, I thought it might be a good time to reflect on India’s place in Asia. Also, how Asia and the rest of the world think of India and our position in Asia. We like to… Continue reading India @ the Heart of Asia
More importantly, can it afford to? At the start of the 2007/08 Financial Crisis, many international commentators talked of the possibility of deglobalization, perhaps out of fears that the global financial system had grown too large, too fast, and that tougher regulation might force them to shrink their operations. Whether the regulatory system forced them… Continue reading Is the World Deglobalising?
Reading about China’s 20th Communist Party Congress that took place last month in Beijing, it’s good to think about what its message is to the Communist Party, to the people of China and to the world. As the world’s second-largest economy and one of the most populous, if not the most populous, countries in the… Continue reading Cold War with China Not What the World Needs
There isn’t a single news programme or article on the global economy these days that doesn’t mention recession. This has been so for the past many months, but as central banks – especially the US Federal Reserve – keep raising interest rates to combat inflation, the prospect of a recession draws ever nearer. In their… Continue reading The Indian Economy: Bright Spot or Dangers Lurking?
It’s a year since the worst of the Covid-19 outbreaks, and with most people fully vaccinated in many countries, economies are getting back to work. The biggest concern, though, around the world is soaring inflation which is well-entrenched now and broadbased, so interest rate hikes to tame it are in full swing. The tightening of… Continue reading Recession, Recession, Why Such Confusion
Peripatetic Perch 