Saturday, December 29, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
Democracy
"The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."
Robert Maynard Hutchins
Robert Maynard Hutchins
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
A Short Economic History of New Zealand
Listener 1 August 1998. by Brian Easton
The Governor of the Reserve Bank finished a recent speech with “the sharp downturn in may of our export markets may well turn out to be the most serious shock to it the New Zealand economy since the oil shock of the seventies.” Here is a summary of the main shocks and recessions over our economic history.
The traditional Maori economy did not suffer recessions, because it was a barter economy isolated from the world. There were harvest booms and slumps because of supply changes, but not demand driven fluctuations. European contact brought a monetary economy and international trade, which affected the barter economy. The Maori planted crops to provision visiting whaling and sealing ships. In some years Northern Hemisphere monetary tumult meant the shipowners could not afford to send them, and the commercial crops wasted.
Perhaps New Zealand was born in depression for Australia, from whence it was first governed, was depressed in the 1840s. Most early settlements initially struggled, although Canterbury was fortunate because of the 1850s Victorian gold rush. Local gold rushes and the land wars gave prosperity in the early 1860s, but by the end of the 1860s the national economy was in recession. The 25 year “Long Depression” lasted until the early 1890s. There was a speculative boom in the 1870s from Vogel’s borrowing, which ended following the collapse of the Bank of Glasgow in 1878, when the London market withdrew its colonial investments. There were, as there are today, regional differences. Auckland was hooked into to the Sydney economy and struggled along a bit longer, but by the late 1880s New Zealand was thoroughly depressed.
Prosperity returned in the 1890s as overseas prices recovered, and frozen meat (and later dairy products) exports developed. The expansion phase of the boom lasted to the mid 1900s, and then slowed down, resulting in industrial strife such as at Blackball in 1908 and Waihi in 1913. Growth continued through the First World War but it was with world induced inflation.
Immediately after, import prices rose sharply, triggering a sharp (but mercifully short) contraction in 1921. The 1920s were a period of sluggish growth because of poor export prices. They crashed at the end of the decade precipitating the “Great Depression”. The downturn was not as deep as in 1921. But was longer and after a period of stagnation, so the earlier pain is largely forgotten.
Thereafter New Zealand had its greatest period of sustained growth: a strong expansion phase in the decade from 1934 when volume GDP grew at 7 percent p.a. (comparable to 1980s East Asian growth rates), followed by 20 years averaging over 4 percent p.a., (with cyclical ups and downs).
A major factor in sustaining this high growth rate was good prices for New Zealand exports. The 32 year boom ended in late 1966, with the collapse of wool prices. New Zealand then went through an 11 year transition phase of slow growth and rising unemployment, obscured by the world commodity boom of 1972 which burst in the 1973 oil price shock. Financial markets collapsed (as they do about once a decade) but not as noticeably as in 1987.
The world economy grew slowly from the mid 1970s, and by 1978 New Zealand was growing faster, continuing to do so when the world economy expanded in the early 1980s. The New Zealand boom ended in 1985, as the real exchange rate rose, cutting off export expansion. Fortunately the world continued to grow, so what could have been another long local depression was only a recession. The new National governments spending cuts in 1991 generated the sharpest contraction in the postwar era. But in 1992 New Zealand at last hooked into a world growth boom. It lasted about 5 years, the third longest post war boom. It ended in early 1997, and the economy has been struggling since, with some sectors and regions doing well, others in difficulties.
Read more here
The Governor of the Reserve Bank finished a recent speech with “the sharp downturn in may of our export markets may well turn out to be the most serious shock to it the New Zealand economy since the oil shock of the seventies.” Here is a summary of the main shocks and recessions over our economic history.
The traditional Maori economy did not suffer recessions, because it was a barter economy isolated from the world. There were harvest booms and slumps because of supply changes, but not demand driven fluctuations. European contact brought a monetary economy and international trade, which affected the barter economy. The Maori planted crops to provision visiting whaling and sealing ships. In some years Northern Hemisphere monetary tumult meant the shipowners could not afford to send them, and the commercial crops wasted.
Perhaps New Zealand was born in depression for Australia, from whence it was first governed, was depressed in the 1840s. Most early settlements initially struggled, although Canterbury was fortunate because of the 1850s Victorian gold rush. Local gold rushes and the land wars gave prosperity in the early 1860s, but by the end of the 1860s the national economy was in recession. The 25 year “Long Depression” lasted until the early 1890s. There was a speculative boom in the 1870s from Vogel’s borrowing, which ended following the collapse of the Bank of Glasgow in 1878, when the London market withdrew its colonial investments. There were, as there are today, regional differences. Auckland was hooked into to the Sydney economy and struggled along a bit longer, but by the late 1880s New Zealand was thoroughly depressed.
Prosperity returned in the 1890s as overseas prices recovered, and frozen meat (and later dairy products) exports developed. The expansion phase of the boom lasted to the mid 1900s, and then slowed down, resulting in industrial strife such as at Blackball in 1908 and Waihi in 1913. Growth continued through the First World War but it was with world induced inflation.
Immediately after, import prices rose sharply, triggering a sharp (but mercifully short) contraction in 1921. The 1920s were a period of sluggish growth because of poor export prices. They crashed at the end of the decade precipitating the “Great Depression”. The downturn was not as deep as in 1921. But was longer and after a period of stagnation, so the earlier pain is largely forgotten.
Thereafter New Zealand had its greatest period of sustained growth: a strong expansion phase in the decade from 1934 when volume GDP grew at 7 percent p.a. (comparable to 1980s East Asian growth rates), followed by 20 years averaging over 4 percent p.a., (with cyclical ups and downs).
A major factor in sustaining this high growth rate was good prices for New Zealand exports. The 32 year boom ended in late 1966, with the collapse of wool prices. New Zealand then went through an 11 year transition phase of slow growth and rising unemployment, obscured by the world commodity boom of 1972 which burst in the 1973 oil price shock. Financial markets collapsed (as they do about once a decade) but not as noticeably as in 1987.
The world economy grew slowly from the mid 1970s, and by 1978 New Zealand was growing faster, continuing to do so when the world economy expanded in the early 1980s. The New Zealand boom ended in 1985, as the real exchange rate rose, cutting off export expansion. Fortunately the world continued to grow, so what could have been another long local depression was only a recession. The new National governments spending cuts in 1991 generated the sharpest contraction in the postwar era. But in 1992 New Zealand at last hooked into a world growth boom. It lasted about 5 years, the third longest post war boom. It ended in early 1997, and the economy has been struggling since, with some sectors and regions doing well, others in difficulties.
Read more here
Monday, December 17, 2012
The worlds' richest 10 nations
2012 Ranking (from richest to poorest) for Gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity (PPP) per capita
| 1 | Qatar | $106,283.96 |
| 2 | Luxembourg | $79,649.49 |
| 3 | Singapore | $61,046.96 |
| 4 | Norway | $54,479.06 |
| 5 | Hong Kong SAR | $50,716.14 |
| 6 | Brunei Darussalam | $50,440.03 |
| 7 | United States | $49,601.41 |
| 8 | United Arab Emirates | $48,434.60 |
| 9 | Switzerland | $44,015.97 |
| 10 | Kuwait | $43,773.88 |
Read more here
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Singapore; world rankings
Singapore is a city-state.
- Most livable cities —
- Economist Intelligence Unit: World's Most Livable Cities survey 2011: Singapore is ranked 4th on the Economist Intelligence Unit's Asia Most Livable City survey[1]
- Singapore is ranked 1st in 201 on Gallup's Potential Net Migration Index.[2]
- Singapore is ranked No. 1 for Asian expatriates in 2010 on ECA International’s Location Ratings Survey.[3]
- Singapore is ranked the 15th most liveable city worldwide in the Monocle liveable city index.
- FutureBrand: Country Brand Index 2009, ranked 13 out of 102 brands (ranked 4 in the Asia-Pacific region)[4]
- Best Country Brand – Conferences, ranked 3 out of 102 brands
- Best Country Brand – Easiest to do Business in, ranked 1 out of 102 brands
- Best Country Brand – Ideal for Business, ranked 2 out of 102 brands
- Best Country Brand – Shopping, ranked 1 out of 102 brands
- Most expensive cities —
- Economist Intelligence Unit: Cost of Living Survey 2009, ranked 10 out of 140 cities in the world (ranked 3 in Asia)[5]
- ECA International: Cost of Living Survey (June 2011), ranked 36 out of more than 390 locations in the world (ranked 6th in Asia)[6]
- Mercer: Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2011, ranked 8 out of 143 countries[7]
- Expatistan: Cost of life index for expats, June 2011, ranked 11 out of 137 cities[8]
- Population of urban area: Ranked 63 (2011)
- Singapore ranked Asia’s top City of Opportunity and ninth amongst 26 cities worldwide by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
[edit]Communications
Main article: Media of Singapore
- Singapore is Asia's most "network ready" country.[9]
- Economist Intelligence Unit: e-readiness 2008, ranked 6 out of 70 countries[10]
- Singapore has the 2nd highest internet penetration in Asia-Pacific.[11]
- Household broadband penetration rate as of December 2008: 99.9%[12]
- International Press Institute (IPI): Accessible Government pilot project, ranked 2 out of 12 countries[13]
- VISA: Online shopping survey 2009, ranked 1 in Asia-Pacific region
- read more here
[edit]
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
How well-educated are your immigrants?
MIGRANTS to rich countries have generally spent longer in education than their native-born peers, according to a new report by the OECD. Since 2000 the proportion of recent migrants to OECD countries who have graduated from university has risen five percentage points to 31%; among the native-born population the proportion has risen four percentage points to 29%. Over 50% of immigrants to Canada and 47% of those to Britain have completed tertiary education, the highest levels among rich countries. By contrast, only 11% of immigrants to Italy and 13% to Greece have a degree. Countries that have succeeded in attracting a higher number of university-educated immigrants have generally implemented immigration policies that actively encourage skilled labour. Australia has streamlined its student-visa assessments and included post-study work rights for graduates to keep hold of the talent it nurtures. Canada and Denmark have also been particularly good in this respect. These lands of opportunity have fared far better than those with less attractive labour markets. Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Greece have seen a sharp decline in the number of well-educated migrants heading their way.
Read more here
Read more here
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Friday, December 7, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)