Is one continent, one country a viable strategy for #Africa-China relations?
▻http://africasacountry.com/2015/11/the-china-africa-summit
Three top executives of state-owned #China Railway Construction Corporation Limited were fatally shot in the Radisson Bleu Hotel Attacks in Bamako. The victims add to a worrisome set of attacks.....
The #World_Bank has a terrible memory
▻http://africasacountry.com/2015/09/the-world-bank-has-a-terrible-memory
I am currently working on a small project with some colleagues on the economic impact of natural resources in developing countries. Most of my reading and interest in working on.....
Unemployment in Latvia 9,8%. First time since crisis unemployment rate is so low.
bezdarbs | Makroekonomika.lv
▻https://www.makroekonomika.lv/category/tags/bezdarbs
Pirmo reizi septiņu gadu laikā bezdarbs Latvijā sarucis zem 10% rādītāja (2015. gada 2. ceturksnī – 9.8% no ekonomiski aktīvajiem iedzīvotājiem). Tas ir nedaudz mazāk nekā eiro zonā kopumā. Būtisku ietekmi uz inflāciju tas gan nerada, jo samazinās arī bezdarba dabiskais līmenis.
Attēls. Faktiskais un dabiskais bezdarbs Latvijā (% no ekonomiski aktīvajiem iedzīvotājiem)
#Unemployment #Latvia #Latvija #unemployment_rate #economics
What can Africa learn from the Greek crisis?
▻http://africasacountry.com/what-can-africa-learn-from-the-greek-crisis
In recent days many of our readers have requested analysis of the Greek/Euro crisis and how to relate it to Africa’s long and bruising experience with major international creditors. So we.....
#economics #Eurozone #Fela_Kuti #IMF #International_motherfuckers #Patrick_Bond #Politics #Seun_Kuti #Steven_Friedman #Structural_Adjustment #Syriza #Thomas_Sankara #Yanis_Varoufakis
The #oil giants are coming to #Tanzania
▻http://africasacountry.com/the-oil-giants-are-coming-to-tanzania
International oil giants are bearing down on East Africa. Off the coast of Tanzania, the discovery of 46.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves has put the country on.....
#GnuNameSystem A Secure and Resilient Communication Infrastructure for Decentralized Networking Applications
Matthias Wachs thesis
►https://gnunet.org/diss-wachs
6.9 Related Work and Comparison
6.9.2 Namecoin
With #Namecoin it is possible to square #Zooko ’s triangle and achieve all three properties of #Zooko_s_triangle at the same time: memorable, global and secure names. Names are globally unique since with the blockchain a consensus in the network about the current state of the system and therefore all registered names exist. #Names are memorable since they are explicitly chosen that way when registering these names. But with initial cheap cost when bootstrapping the system, the problem of name squatting exists. Initially the registration cost of names are low and therefore early adopters register names with the expectation to sell these names when the system is popular. So with Namecoin, names are an #economic object possessed by an owner and are object of trade and economic behavior. The system is said to be #secure, since with a majority of benign nodes in the network, the consensus of the block chain cannot be attacked. This assumption is only valid with an adversary model weaker than the adversary model used for this work. Note that our adversary model is not a far-fetched assumption in this context: as we saw with recent revelations about a single mining pool in the #Bitcoin network possessing more than 51% of the computational power in the network [Far14a], it is conceivable that a nation-state can muster more resources than the small number of other entities that participate in the system, especially for systems used as an alternative in places where censorship is encountered or during the bootstrapping of the network, when only a small number of users participate.
#Security can also be lowered by the concept of the Namecoin resolution process: a client resolving a name has to be in possession of the complete block chain to validate a name. The complete block chain can be large in size and therefore not be available on devices with restricted resources. These devices would then have to rely on third party resolvers and so creating a trusted third party, which may not be trustworthy or may be manipulated, just like in #DNS.
Will Africa’s Industrial Revolution Be Made in #China?
▻http://africasacountry.com/will-africas-industrial-revolution-be-made-in-china
Over the past three decades, consumers have grown used to seeing the “Made in China” label adorning their less expensive purchases. Once China opened its economy to international trade and.....
#conditions_de_travail en #Chine : #Apple régresse
▻http://multinationales.org/Conditions-de-travail-en-Chine
Apple a vendu en 2014 une quantité record d’iPhones, et sa capitalisation boursière continue d’atteindre des sommets. De l’autre côté du décor, malgré des scandales à répétition,le dernier rapport de l’entreprise sur sa responsabilité sociale illustre la persistance des atteintes aux #droits_des_travailleurs dans les usines de ses fournisseurs chinois. Non seulement les engagements éthiques d’Apple paraissent souvent dénués de substance, mais certains indicateurs choisis par l’entreprise elle-même montrent (...)
Actualités
/ #Economic_Policy_Institute, #Apple, Apple, Chine, #Industries_électroniques, #Industries_électroniques, conditions de travail, droits des travailleurs, #impact_social, #responsabilité_sociale_des_entreprises, #chaîne_d'approvisionnement, #syndicats, A la (...)
« ▻http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30532463 »
« ▻http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/newscast/428 »
« ▻http://www.epi.org/blog/a-milestone-week-for-apples-stock-but-not-its-workers »
« ▻http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/apple-backslides-on-work-hour-limits »
EUobserver / Euro not to blame for debt crisis, says commission nominee
▻http://euobserver.com/news/125912
The euro is not to blame for the sovereign debt crisis which forced several EU countries into multi-billion euro bailouts, the next commissioner for the single currency told MEPs Monday (6 September).
Speaking during his three-hour hearing with members of the Parliament’s economic affairs committee, Latvia’s commission nominee Valdis Dombrovskis commented that “we went through a crisis in Latvia without having the euro…the euro is the not the main issue to be blamed”.
Meanwhile, Dombrovskis deflected claims that, as a vice-president in the EU executive, he would effectively be the line manager of French commission candidate Pierre Moscovici.
#Valdis_Dombrovskis #Euro #EconomicCrisis #Latvia #BalticStates #EUCommissioners
DNB publishes “Barometer of Latvia” August 2014.
25% think that Latvia is developing in the rigth direction, 53% - in the wrong direction. Only 10% evaluates their economic situation as good.
▻https://www.dnb.lv/sites/default/files/dnb_latvian_barometer/documents/2012/dnb-latvijas-barometrs-petijums-nr72.pdf
#Latvia #DNB_barometer #August2014 #Economic_situation #political_situation
Claiming victory against #Unilever, ’Fralibs’ will take over their factory in Gémenos
▻http://multinationales.org/Claiming-victory-against-Unilever
“This is a massive trade-union victory”, say the delighted ’Fralib’ workers. After occupying their tea-producing factory for three and a half years in Gémenos, Southern #France, the ’Fralibs’, as they are called after the name of their former company, finally came to an agreement with Unilever on the 25th May, 2014. This article was originally published in French►http://multinationales.org/Reprise-de-l-usine-de-Gemenos. Translation: Rebecca Ballard. “This agreement means we can start looking into (...)
#News
/ #Economic_Democracy, Unilever, France, Food & Agribusiness, #internal_democracy_within_firms, #social_economy, #employment, #workers'_protest, #corporate_social_responsibility, Confédération générale du travail (...)
#Food_&_Agribusiness #Confédération_générale_du_travail_CGT_
#World_Cup raises foreign flags, Lebanese questions
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/20072
Multitude of flags hang in support of their respective #Football teams in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup in #Lebanon on June 4,2014. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah) Multitude of flags hang in support of their respective football teams in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup in Lebanon on June 4,2014. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah)
Every four years, the World Cup throws Lebanon into a frenzy. Giant flags are hung across buildings and streets, cafes rent the newest, biggest screens to broadcast the games, and some fans fire rounds in the air after their favorite team wins a match. But amidst the celebratory atmosphere, the tournament raises questions of national identity - as foreign flags, predominantly European ones, flood the streets - (...)
#Culture_&_Society #Articles #economic_inequality #Lebanon_sports
Whining white people*
▻http://africasacountry.com/whining-white-people
Can all the whining white people all over Twitter and Facebook please shut up? Just shut up. Stop talking about how stupid ANC voters are. Stop talking about how you’re convinced the EFF are going to kill you in your sleep. Stop calling people baboons. Stop behaving like Helen Zille is the true saviour of […]
#OPINION #African_National_Congress #Economic_Freedom_Front #elections #white_South_Africans
Admit it, you didn’t expect the Economic Freedom Fighters to do so well
▻http://africasacountry.com/admit-it-you-didnt-expect-the-economic-freedom-fighters-to-do-so-we
At first sight, the results for national and provincial elections in #South_Africa may suggest that little has changed. The ANC still got more than 60% of the national vote (despite its poor leadership); the largest parliamentary opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, did not significantly increase its share of the national vote (it is still very […]
The Economic Freedom Fighters
▻http://africasacountry.com/80911
At first sight, the results for national and provincial elections in #South_Africa may suggest that little has changed. The ANC still got more than 60% of the national vote (despite its poor leadership); the largest parliamentary opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, did not significantly increase its share of the national vote (it is still very […]
#SouthAfricaVotes: The post-1994 power brokers and black liberation
▻http://africasacountry.com/the-post-1994-power-brokers-and-black-liberation
On May 7th South Africans go to the polls to vote for national and provincial representatives (the majority party gets to pick the President and the Cabinet). In the lead up to the election, we’ll carry a few pieces. The series starts today, the 20th anniversary of the April 1994 elections–the country’s first democratic elections in […]
#MEDIA #POLITICS #2014_Elections #African_National_Congress #ANC #COSATU #Economic_Freedom_Fighters #EFF #Helen_Zille #Jacob_Zuma #Nelson_Mandela #Pixley_ka_Seme #South_Africa
Critics say new Egyptian business law to foster #Corruption
▻http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/critics-say-new-egyptian-business-law-foster-corruption
A new Egyptian law that prevents third parties from challenging contracts made with the government may encourage foreign investors, but critics say it will increase scope for corruption. President Adly Mansour on Tuesday approved the law that will restrict the right to challenge state business and real estate deals to only the government, the institutions involved and business partners. The law is meant to revive investment hit by political instability since a 2011 uprising toppled autocratic president Hosni Mubarak. read more
The two mutually irreconcilable Nelson Mandelas
▻http://africasacountry.com/the-mutually-irreconcilable-mandelas
Nelson Mandela’s post-presidency saw the rise of a larger-than-life caricature of himself, one that somehow managed to be smaller than both the real accomplishments of the man as revolutionary and politician, and an apolitical, often commercial, valorization of the failures of a lengthy transition to democracy that never seems to amount to liberation.
#African_National_Congress #Economic_Freedom_Fighters #Julius_Malema #Nelson_Mandela #South_Africa
Debt and growth: No ‘tipping point’ | vox
▻http://www.voxeu.org/article/debt-and-growth-no-tipping-point
The presence of a common threshold, or ‘tipping point’ – beyond which the detrimental impact of debt on growth is significant, or significantly increases – is currently taken as given in many policy circles. In the US, although many political battles impinge on the Congressional debate over the debt ceiling and the resulting government shutdown of October 2013, this somewhat reflected a widespread belief that debt is dangerous, and that fiscal austerity represents the only way of restoring sustainable growth. In the UK, Chancellor George Osborne displayed a similar sentiment when telling his annual party conference in Manchester this year that dealing with the repercussions of the financial crisis is not over “[u]ntil we’ve fixed the addiction to debt that got this country into this mess in the first place” (emphasis added). Without a doubt, these strong convictions and ensuing actions were strongly influenced by the work of Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff (2010a), who were among the first to suggest a debt-to-GDP threshold of around 90%, beyond which economic growth is seriously affected by the debt burden.
A large debate about fiscal austerity and the relationship between debt and growth – also featured on Vox – followed the work by Reinhart and Rogoff. Recently, Ken Rogoff has come back to the issue, arguing that he and Carmen Reinhart never suggested that their results should be “interpreted as saying that a country would suddenly experience a significant change in expected growth as it crossed the 90% threshold”. However, we observe that in policy circles, among academics, and in the media, the message of a common 90% debt threshold is still very widespread....
#economy #économie
#Public-debt #dette-publique
#economic-growth #croissance
#tipping-point
#Julius_Malema’s #Economic_Freedom_Fighters and the South African Left
▻http://africasacountry.com/julius-malemas-economic-freedom-fighters-and-the-south-african-left
In geographer Gill Hart’s excellent Rethinking the #South_Africa crisis, she points to a rather curious phenomenon as part of her engagement with the figure of one Julius Malema and the ‘populist’ turn he represents. She notes that for a change the far left and liberal right’s #POLITICS converge in the sense that they both share the same critique of the ex-Youth League president and current commander-in-chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters (...)
Financial markets: The removal of a calming hand | The Economist
▻http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2013/09/financial-markets?fsrc=rss
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Financial markets
The removal of a calming hand
Sep 18th 2013, 15:08 by C.W. | LONDON
SPECULATION is a dirty word. Market punters are often blamed for pushing securities prices from extreme to extreme, generating crises along the way. New regulations have half-heartedly tried to limit the worst excesses.
But some argue that another government force is buoying the speculators. To soothe worried markets, central banks have embarked on an ambitious programme of unconventional monetary policy. Measures such as quantitative easing (QE)—printing money to buy things like government bonds and mortgage securities—are in vogue.
Unconventional monetary policy has been attacked for prompting further financial gaming. With piles of cash to play with, the argument goes, investors have bid up prices of equities, bonds, and commodities. Stocks and shares have certainly been on the up. From a low in 2009—just after QE began—World Bank commodity price indices have increased by over 50%. The FTSE 100, an index of stock prices in Britain, has nearly reached its all-time high.
But a new paper from the International Monetary Fund suggests that unconventional monetary policies (UMPs) do not encourage speculation. Rather, they dampen it. UMPs reduce “tail risk”, or the odds of extreme market outcomes like hyperinflation or a new Depression. That, in turn, tamps down market volatility, and that reduces the incentive to speculate. When America announces that it will purchase more mortgage-backed securities or government bonds, markets quickly price in lower volatility. Risk measures can drop by 10% after the Federal Reserve makes unconventional monetary policy announcements, according to the IMF paper.
“in #lebanon, […] Sunni-Shi‘i #sectarianism has always been less about #religion and more about...”
▻http://levant.tumblr.com/post/58671402609
“in Lebanon, […] Sunni-Shi‘i sectarianism has always been less about religion and more...
#politics #sunnis #chiites #shiites #society #social #economic #economy
Unemployment rate has decreased for 0,3% in Latvia
In the end of June registered employment rate in Latvia was 9,6%. In comparison with May it is 0,3% less, says data from Employment’s state agency (ESA/NVA).
Unemployed people’s amount has decreased for 3015.
The biggest unemployment is still in region of Latgale - 19,8%, but the smallest in Riga region - 6,2%.
Unemployment in biggest cities in Latvia: Riga - 5,9%, Jelgava-7,1%, Valmiera - 6,3%, Ventspils - 7,8%, Liepaja - 9,3%, Jurmala - 8,4%, Daugavpils - 9,7%, Jekabpils - 12,3%, Rezekne 18%.
Latvijā bezdarbs samazinājies par 0,3 % - Ekonomika - nra.lv
▻http://nra.lv/ekonomika/99048-latvija-bezdarbs-samazinajies-par-0-3.htm
Latvijā bezdarbs samazinājies par 0,3 %
Jūnija beigās reģistrētā bezdarba līmenis Latvijā bija 9,6% un salīdzinājumā ar maiju tas samazinājies par 0,3%, liecina Nodarbinātības valsts aģentūras (NVA) apkopotie dati.
Jaunākais nra.lv
Bezdarbnieku skaits mēneša laikā samazinājies par 3015 cilvēkiem - NVA uzskaitē jūnija sākumā bija 97 769 bezdarbnieki, bet mēneša beigās - 94 754 bezdarbnieki.
Lielākais bezdarbnieku skaits nemainīgi saglabājies Latgales reģionā - 19,8% no ekonomiski aktīvajiem iedzīvotājiem, savukārt mazākais - Rīgas reģionā - 6,2%. Bezdarba līmenis Vidzemē jūnijā bija 11,2%, Kurzemē - 10,5%, bet Zemgalē - 10,1%.
Kopumā bezdarbs samazinājies visos reģionos, izņemot Kurzemi, kur tas palicis nemainīgs. Par 0,5% bezdarbs sarucis Vidzemē, par 0,4% Zemgalē un Latgalē, bet par 0,3% - Rīgas reģionā.
Valsts lielākajās pilsētās bezdarba līmenis jūnija beigās bija šāds : Rīgā - 5,9%, Jelgavā - 7,1%, Valmierā - 6,3%, Ventspilī - 7,8%, Liepājā - 9,3%, Jūrmalā - 8,4%, Daugavpilī - 9,7%, Jēkabpilī - 12,3%, Rēzeknē - 18%.