Pulse: Asia


EconVue Spotlight - The Energy Standard

There are two reports I always look forward to reading each June: the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, and analyst Mary Meeker’s annual report on Internet trends. For those interested in the art of investment prognostication, a stroll through the archives of Meeker’s reports since 1996 is fascinating. They chart the growth of the Internet and the disruption of global communications that have impacted nearly everything.

Dialogue of Civilizations for a better Asia and World

On May 15th-16th, the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations (CDAC) was held in Beijing, another important domestic diplomatic event in 2019, following the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) and the 2019 Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition.

The CDAC was initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 4th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia in 2014 and was formally proposed at the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia in 2015.

ESG sustainability is the key to BRI’s success

By SUN Xi and Herta Monica Montesino Cucos

EconVue Spotlight - Unconventional Wisdom

EconVue is about the Gettier Problem which to simplify means that just because one is justified in drawing a conclusion, doesn’t mean that it is true. For example, we certainly could be justified in thinking that racial hatred has increased in the US based on media and news reports.  However, a fascinating University of Pennsylvania study says that this isn’t true, and that actually racial prejudice has been declining.
 

EconVue Spotlight -The Mythology of Economics


“For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived, and dishonest—but the myth— persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”   John F. Kennedy, Yale University Commencement Address June 11, 1962

EconVue Spotlight

Another amazing week.  As politics got murkier however, markets surged higher.  In terms of what will be remembered decades from now, the event that shocked nearly everyone was the abrupt ending of the US-North Korea Summit.  As the next set of leadership-level meetings loom this month, surely the Chinese must be reevaluating their strategy vis-à-vis President Donald Trump. What these negotiations have in common is that in both cases the US is asking Kim Jun-un and Xi Jinping for structural changes that for different reasons each might have trouble delivering.

EconVue Spotlight - The Long & Winding Road

The US government shutdown is over, but the question of how a wall between the US and Mexico will be funded is unresolved. The threat, or lack of a threat posed by immigrants at the southern border, is a litmus test for US politicians. AMLO, Mexico’s new leader, could achieve what no one has before in terms of eliminating violence and corruption, or he could make things much, much worse and turn his country into the next Venezuela.

EconVue Spotlight | Peak Davos

The biggest economic conference of the season, the World Economic Forum, has just wrapped up in Davos. Most of the sessions are now available as they happen, and with the snow piled high here in Chicago, watching them online almost seemed like being there. I’ve included links to some of the best discussions and interviews you might enjoy on this even colder weekend.

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