Bankruptcies rise in America BANKRUPTCY filings rose 20% in the year to June 30th compared with the previous 12-month period, according to statistics released on August 17th by the Administrative Office of the US Courts. This takes quarterly filings to their highest point since tougher bankruptcy laws were introduced at the end of 2005. That change brought a spike of bankruptcies, as companies and... (more...)
Asia overtakes Europe, in beer terms CHINA;S remarkable growth is as apparent in beer consumption as it is in more formal economic indicators. In the space of a couple of decades the country has gone from barely touching a drop to become the world;s biggest beer market, a considerable distance ahead of America. And beer drinking in China is growing fast, by nearly 10% a year according to Credit Suisse;s... (more...)
China’s economy overtakes Japan’s in real terms CHINA has become the world’s second biggest economy according to data released on Monday August 16th. Japan’s economy fell behind China’s at market exchange rates in the second quarter (it has been number three in PPP terms for some time). These numbers are not strictly comparable: Japan’s data have been seasonally... (more...)
The jobless recovery, long prophesied, is here FEARS that the recovery of America’s economy after the financial crisis would fail to spur an increase in employment are being realised. In July, 52,000 fewer people were employed on non-farm payrolls than in July 2009, the month in which it is estimated the American economy climbed out of recession. Comparing the latest recession with previous ones... (more...)
Shadow economies have grown since the financial crisis began A NEW estimate of the size of shadow economies around the world sheds light on a worrying trend. Friedrich Schneider, of Linz University in Austria, reckons that, for the first time in a decade, transactions taking place outside the taxable and observable realm of the official economy captured by GDP numbers are increasing. Shadow economy... (more...)
The world’s biggest broadband providers THE ten largest broadband service providers in the world gained over 23m subscribers in the year to the end of March. Together they have 191m subscribers, or almost 40% of the world’s 492m broadband customers, according to TeleGeography, a research firm. The lion’s share is taken by China Telecom and China Unicom, which together account for... (more...)
In which European countries are people least likely to attend religious services? THE proportion of people who regularly attend religious services has declined steadily throughout Europe in recent years. But habits vary widely across countries. According to the latest European Social Survey conducted in 2008 and 2009, over 60% of Czechs say they never attend religious services, with the exception of... (more...)
How long can corporate America’s profit rebound continue? THE quarterly results season that is drawing to a close has revealed that corporate profits are back within a whisker of the all-time highs achieved before the downturn in late 2008. American profits are already back to 11% of GDP. Corporate America is reaping the rewards from cutting costs, especially in capital investment and labour,... (more...)
Who produces most diamonds? AMID much media interest, Naomi Campbell, a model, gave evidence on Thursday August 5th at the special court for Sierra Leone in The Hague. Charles Taylor, the former dictator of Liberia, who is on trial for war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone, is accused of giving Ms Campbell a “blood diamond” in 1997. Ms Campbell admitted receiving a gift of “dirty... (more...)
The cost of breakfast rises SEVERE drought and wildfires in Russia, the world’s fourth largest wheat producer, have destroyed a fifth of the country’s crop and sent prices soaring. Since the end of June wheat prices have more than doubled. On Wednesday August 4th, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization cut its forecast for 2010 global wheat production by 5m tonnes, to 651m tonnes.... (more...)
