Andrew Milligan – Jackson Hole Economics For 250 years, European writers have been fascinated by how Americans behave. From Fanny Trollope’s ‘Domestic Manners of the Americans’ through De Toqueville’s ‘Democracy in America’ and more recent Alastair Cooke’s ‘Letter from America’, Europeans have been amused, amazed, or aghast at the antics of their American cousins. This…
Anne Moore, University College Cork – The Conversation Preliminary data from the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine trial suggests it provides 90% efficacy at preventing the disease. At the very least, this news will result in a large sigh of relief across the vaccine community. It signifies a breakthrough – it’s the first announcement that a vaccine…
Daniel Broby, University of Strathclyde – The Conversation In a surprise last minute decision, the flagship stock exchange listing of Ant Group was suspended by regulators in China and Hong Kong. The Chinese tech giant, backed by Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma, was to be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history. The suspension puts…
Thankom Arun, University of Essex and Reji Joseph, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development – The Conversation India’s pharmaceutical industry is renowned for selling medicines to the world at reasonable prices, especially developing countries. This has helped Africa in its fight against HIV/Aids, for instance. Such endeavours have earned India a reputation as the “pharmacy…
Simone Abram, Durham University; Alton Horsfall, Durham University, and Andrew Crossland, Durham University – The Conversation Electricity generated by nuclear power plants, wind turbines and solar panels results in negligible greenhouse gas emissions, even when their manufacture, construction and maintenance is taken into account. To the casual observer, nuclear power and renewables might appear to…
Corporate Q&A with David Yeung (Green Monday) – First published in Week in China How Green Monday Group is promoting a plant-based diet in China Sustainable businesses can be financially rewarding. Look no further than the American plant-based meat brand Beyond Meat, whose shares on Nasdaq have risen sixfold since going public last May. One…
Rajat Dhawan and Suvojoy Sengupta – McKinsey & Company India’s manufacturing sector could become an engine for economic growth and jobs—if it can specialize. Eleven high-potential value chains could more than double its manufacturing GDP in a few years. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of the world’s supply chains for medicines and medical…
Natasha Barbolini, Stockholm University – The Conversation Around 34 million years ago, sudden climate change caused ecological breakdown in Central Asia. This ancient event, triggered by rapid drops in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide, permanently affected biological diversity in the region. Large areas of Mongolia, (geographic) Tibet and north-western China suddenly became hyperarid deserts with…
This article was originally published in Brookings by Sophie Lemière Former autocrat and self-reinvented democrat Mahathir Mohamad won the 2018 general elections, but less than two years later, the democratic fairy tales ended. In January 2020, under pressure from internal dissenters in his coalition, Mahathir resigned from the government. The old ruling party (United Malay…
