Category: Asia
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Cargill and Economic Development for the Poor
Fortune: Cargill: Inside the quiet giant that rules the food business Here is just one example of a large "evil" multinational corporation's positive impact on economic development among the poor. There are many other stories similar to these that are rarely seen in the press. … Seventy percent of the world's cocoa grows in West…
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The World of Seven Billion
National Geographic has a fascinating interactive map on its website that gives some valuable socio-economic perspective. The World of Seven Billion
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Measuring growth from outer space
Aid Watch: Cool Maps: Measuring growth from outer space For many of the world’s poorest countries, figures measuring economic growth are unreliable, and in some cases they don’t exist at all. In an NBER working paper, Brown University professors J. Vernon Henderson, Adam Storeygard, and David N. Weil came up with an interesting proxy for GDP growth:…
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New method yields more rice with less water: Oxfam
Reuters: New method yields more rice with less water: Oxfam (Reuters) – Rice farmers could boost their yields by 50 percent with a new method that uses less water Oxfam America said on Wednesday as climate change and drought threaten the staple crop. Growing rice — considered the major calorie source for about half the…
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Does culture affect long-run growth?
Vox: Does culture affect long-run growth? Does culture affect long-run growth? This column argues that countries with a more individualist culture have enjoyed higher long-run growth than countries with a more collectivist culture. Individualist culture attaches social status rewards to personal achievements and thus provides not only monetary incentives for innovation but also social status…
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Garment Factories, Changing Women’s Roles in Poor Countries
New York Times – Economix: Garment Factories, Changing Women’s Roles in Poor Countries While visiting garment factories in Bangladesh on assignment recently, I met young women who had migrated from villages to the city in search of jobs that they needed to support their families back home. It is a fairly standard story in this…
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Bubble Trouble? China vs Japan
The Economist: Bubble Trouble? China vs Japan China is set to overtake Japan in the world economic rankings NEXT year China will overtake Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy. Its rapid ascent has led some to question whether China will follow in Japan’s footsteps, with the bursting of a massive bubble followed by years…
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Emerging Asian economies: On the rebound
Asia’s emerging economies are recovering much more quickly than economies in other parts of the world. Can they keep it up? MORE green shoots have appeared in America in recent weeks, but they are nothing by comparison with the lush jungle sprouting in the East. Asia’s emerging economies probably grew at an average annualised rate…