Economics

China’s traffic jam was inevitable CHINA tends to do everything a bit bigger than the rest of the world, including traffic jams. One snarl up this month along a highway leading into Beijing was at one point over 100km long and left traffic gridlocked for eleven days until it mysteriously vanished on Thursday August 26th. [...]

Where has all the plastic gone? THE amount of plastic thrown away by Americans increased fourfold between 1980 and 2008. It is a reasonable assumption that as more plastic is produced and discarded, this will affect oceanic pollution. But a study of the north Atlantic and the Caribbean, just published in Science, suggests things are [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

An international convention banning cluster bombs comes into force ON AUGUST 1st the UN’s Convention on Cluster Munitions, banning the manufacture, use and stockpiling of cluster munitions came into force. The UN estimates that 98% of victims of cluster munitions, explosive weapons that scatter bomblets across a wide area, are civilians. The convention has been [...]

Our latest Big Mac index suggests the euro is still overvalued Correction to this article THE Big Mac index is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP), according to which exchange rates should adjust to equalise the price of a basket of goods and services around the world. Our index shows that Asia remains [...]

Asian and Middle Eastern airlines’ share of the world’s aircraft fleet is set to grow BY THE third day of the Farnborough Airshow on Wednesday July 21st, aircraft-makers had announced new orders worth around $25 billion. A whopping $9 billion order for 40 Boeing 777s from Emirates highlighted the ambitious expansion plans of the Gulf’s [...]