Results for “China” 2939 found
Very good quotations
“It’s not as if 50 people woke up one morning and said, ‘Today, instead of getting a real job, I’m going to go steal cardboard.’
And here is a bit on why cardboard theft has evolved into an organized business:
The city’s impound managers might want to phone China. That country, along with other developing nations like India, is driving the market by paying top dollar for used cardboard. The foreign recyclers then blend it down to remold into new products, such as containers for exports eventually shipped back to the United States.
Again, though the business may sound humdrum, it can be extremely profitable. In 2010, China’s richest woman was “cardboard queen” Zhang Yin, whose $5.6 billion recycling empire made her wealthier than Oprah.
The article is here, and for the pointer I thank Daniel Lippman.
The economics of Olympic success
Here is my new Grantland piece with Kevin Grier. Excerpt:
Predictions
1. Medal totals will become more diversified over time. The market share of the “top 10” countries will continue to fall (it was 81 percent in 1988) as economic and population growth slows in the rich world. The developing world has greater room for rapid economic growth, and most parts of the developing world also have higher population growth. The Olympic playing field will get more and more level.
2. Japan will continue to fade, mostly because of aging and population shrinkage.
3. Italy will follow Japan for similar demographic reasons, as well as because the Eurozone crisis will continue to cut into budgets, training and otherwise.
4. Since Rio is host to the next Olympics, Brazil should do better than expected due to the “pre-host” bump.
5. Many African nations will rise. Currently about half of the approximately 1 billion people in Africa have a cell phone, and the middle class is growing. The chance that an African star will be spotted and trained at the appropriate age is much higher than before. Africa also continues to grow in population, and that means lots of young people. Most of us still think of African nations as very poor, but infant mortality has been falling and per-capita income rising across Africa for the better part of a decade now.
6. China will level off and then decline as a medal powerhouse. In less than 15 years, the typical person living in China is likely to be older on average than the typical person living in the United States, in part due to the country’s one-child policy. As of 2009 the number of over-60s was 167 million, about an eighth of the population, but by 2050 it is expected to reach 480 million people older than 60, with the number of young Chinese falling. The country will become old before it is truly wealthy.
7. Bob Costas will make you cry.
Beijing notes
It is a gargantuan, imperial city, and while there is always a walking path the point of walking is not always clear. “The Middle Kingdom does Dubai.” There is no need to tell me about all the parts of the city which do not look like Dubai, I have seen many of them, and furthermore Dubai has such parts as well.
An iPad, plus Baidu access to Chinese characters, makes it easy to ask questions of strangers. Hardly anyone speaks even minimal English. It is less harried than I had expected. The sky rarely appears, at least in late July. The contemporary art district, 798, is worth more than one visit. I am not interested in seeing the Great Wall. My hotel, rather than having a “Medical Devices” conference, has a meeting on “Australian Property Holdings.”
The main problems here are the air pollution, and that no one, including taxi drivers, seems to know how to get anywhere. The rate of change is high and many people are from the provinces, so there is a real information gap.
The main upsides stem from what scale enables. Even if you have been to many places, Beijing will manage to astonish you.
Most of all, I am struck by how Taiwan is more Chinese than is China.
Assorted links
Signaling flips
A while ago Bryan and Arnold had an interesting exchange as to whether on-line education might ever “flip” into being a higher-status signal than is currently the case. A conversation with Karina points me to one interesting example of a signal status flip, this time from Beirut (and possibly other places as well?):
Apparently, here in Beirut, nose jobs have become so popular that those who cannot afford them, or don’t even actually need them, can still opt to wear bandages across their nose…to fake a nose job. Yup. The newest trend to hit the Beirut fashion scene is the post-op nose bandage.
There is a bit more here.
Who reads Chinese fashion magazines?
Lena Yang, general manager of Hearst Magazines China, who oversees nine publications including Elle and Marie Claire, says that the typical reader of Hearst Magazines in China is a 29.5-year-old woman who is more likely to be single than married. She has an average income of about $1,431 a month and spends $938 a season on luxury watches, $982 on handbags and shoes and $1,066 on clothes.
Ms. Yang says these women often live at home and turn to their parents and grandparents to pay for them. The study also showed that many readers in their 20s saved little.
“Most of them, they are a single child,” Ms. Yang said. “That means they don’t have to pay for their rent. So all of that goes to pocket money. They have the parents support them and the grandparents. They actually have six persons to support them.”
Here is more.
Assorted links
1. A decentralist defense of the minimum wage?
2. MIE: restaurants that will serve your dog (as customer).
3. Progress in athletic performance.
4. Can poor teachers learn to become good ones?
5. New Fuchsia Dunlop cookbook due February 2013, pre-order here.
Dani Rodrik redoes his convergence result with better data
And it still holds up. He concludes with this scary bit:
Almost all of the growth miracles of the last 60 years were based on rapid industrialization. Today, technological changes and global competition are fostering rapid de-industrialization (in terms of employment shares) almost everywhere. This makes me wonder whether the kind of rapid growth experienced by countries like South Korea, Taiwan, and China will ever become possible elsewhere.
The new paper can be downloaded here.
Manila bleg
As this bleg is posting I am on a flight to Beijing. After that, Manila. I’ll have plenty to say about China, but in the meantime your Manila suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks!
Assorted links
1. Noah Smith’s dissertation, plus a mention of my most fundamental view: “”Larry Summer’s maxim,“It isn’t easy to understand how the world works.””
2. Spanish baby stealing as an approach toward social change, and an old argument for the minimum wage.
3. Henry’s music bleg, with lots of comments.
4. Arnold Kling on education, disruption, and Benjamin Lima.
5. China’s railway arteries, photographed.
6. Olympic runner to compete, without a passport or home country.
The culture that is Shanghai
Louis Vuitton is courting China’s wealthy with one-of-a-kind shoes and bags it is branding as unique works of art to reclaim its exclusive cachet in the luxury market.
The French luxury brand, a unit of LVMH (LVMH.PA), is set to open its largest China store in Shanghai on Saturday, complete with a gilded spiral staircase and an invitation-only private floor where big spenders can get their hair done while dreaming up designs for custom bags.
“The made-to-order concept is the ultimate luxury,” Louis Vuitton Chief Executive Yves Carcelle told Reuters during a tour of the store, which the company calls a “maison”.
Here is more, via Daniel Lippman.
Assorted links
1. The increasing polarization of the eurozone electorate.
2. Will Amazon achieve one-day or same-day delivery?
3. Why does this kitchen sink cost more than many laptops? That is a question from Amit C. I say materials, combined with economies of scale on the laptop side.
4. Claims about China and financial repression (“this time it’s different”).
5. Starbucks in a funeral home, and Jeff Sachs is mostly right here.
Assorted links
1. IMF podcast for An Economist Gets Lunch.
2. Finland may be the first out of the eurozone after all.
3. Winning and leading submissions for the Wolfson Prize on leaving the euro.
4. Update on Austro-Chinese business cycle theory, funny about that excess capacity isn’t it?
5. Summary coverage of the LIBOR scandal, from The Economist.
6. Arnold Kling on the economics of PEPCO.
7. New urbanization blog by Paul Romer and Brandon Fuller.
8. Josh Barro is completely correct and many commentators on my original post failed a reading test.