Archive for ‘Economics’

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11/05/2014

Study: Happiness, Money Matter Most to Indians – India Real Time – WSJ

Happiness matters most to the average Indian. At the same time, the average Indian care more about their pay than most do in South Asia. In fact, Indians care more about their paycheck than people in the U.S. or Europe.

Those findings, recently released by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was based on a survey of more than 60,000 people about their quality of life. Respondents were asked to rank 11 categories – from income and job satisfaction to personal health and safety – in order of what mattered most to them.

Life satisfaction, or happiness, OECD found, was most important to people world-over. More than 75% of those surveyed reported more positive experiences in a day over negative experiences. Respondents from Iceland, Japan and New Zealand felt the most positive, while those in Greece and Turkey showed the lowest levels of happiness.

Personal health was second-most important concern. China, Canada, France and Australia were among countries that ranked personal health as most important to them, even over happiness, safety and a stable income.

World-over, civic engagement, or greater participation in public policies, occupied a lowly position in rankings. Fewer than two-fifths of those surveyed said they trusted their national governments — but also said fixing the state of affairs in their country wasn’t a priority.

The world’s biggest-ever election is underway in India, for instance, yet the nearly 600 Indians OCED surveyed, ranked civic engagement, or greater participation in public policies, as least-important to them.

India’s South Asian neighbors — China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – were no different. Civic engagement was least-important to people across the four countries. Respondents in each of these countries differed about what mattered most to them.

While Indians and Chinese picked happiness and health care, respectively, respondents from Pakistan named safety as their top concern. Education mattered the most to people in Sri Lanka.

via Study: Happiness, Money Matter Most to Indians – India Real Time – WSJ.

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11/05/2014

Fired from Walmart, Mrs Wang is now gunning for China’s state labor union | Reuters

When Wang Yafang was fired from her job at a Walmart in southern China in July 2011 for dishonesty, she refused to sign the termination papers and even showed up at work the next day – only to be sent away.

Wang, 38, then sued Walmart Shen Guo Tou Stores Inc, a Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) subsidiary, for wrongful termination, and beat the world’s largest retailer in arbitration and twice in court, winning 48,636 yuan ($7,800) in damages.

Now, she’s aiming at an even bigger target: the state-backed All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU).

All-China Federation of Trade Unions

All-China Federation of Trade Unions (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the three decades since China began reforming its economy, its giant state labor union – with upwards of 280 million members – has sat on the sidelines, rarely intervening on behalf of workers in disputes.

In a bid to help change that, Wang, backed by lawyers who have handled some of China’s highest-profile labor cases, decided to sue the union branch at the Walmart in Shenzhen where she worked for nine years. Unlike the few previous attempts by workers to sue grassroots union branches, courts have heard Wang’s case.

Wang and her team argue that the union endorsed the assessment of her as “dishonest” when she was fired and in doing so damaged her reputation. She wants an apology. The union branch has denied the charges.

Beneath the surface, Wang and her lawyers are leveling a more serious accusation – one echoed by many Chinese workers – that the ACFTU is failing in its role as the protector of worker rights and interests.

The landmark case highlights shifting labor relations in China, where workers increasingly know their rights and are seizing opportunities to challenge the status quo, often in court. Independent unions are banned in China, and the ACFTU is coming under unprecedented pressure to adapt.

Two courts in Shenzhen have already heard Wang’s case since she filed the suit last July, and have ruled against her. This month or next, her lawyers plan to launch a final appeal with the Guangdong superior people’s court.

“Either way, if she wins or loses, it is already extremely meaningful that this case has been brought to trial,” said Shi Zhigang, a former union boss from Nanjing who now acts as a collective bargaining adviser to local union branches.

“It’s an amazing development that the courts have even accepted the case and are using Chinese law to make an assessment and evaluation of the union.”

via Fired from Walmart, Mrs Wang is now gunning for China’s state labor union | Reuters.

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11/05/2014

China Says It Wants To Build Massive Railway To America

China has announced an ambitious engineering plan to build a bullet train railway to America, state media reported Thursday.

Possible route of a bridge or tunnel across th...

Possible route of a bridge or tunnel across the Bering Strait. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The massive railway network, nicknamed “China-Russia-Canada-America,” would run north from China, through Siberia and Russia, under the Pacific Ocean to Alaska, then down through Canada to the contiguous United States, The Guardian reports.

The trip from China to the contiguous U.S. would take less than two days, with trains traveling about 217 mph, according to The Beijing Times. China will reportedly fund the construction of the 8,079 miles of railway track, including a 125-mile underwater tunnel across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska.

But this may not be the best time for China to embark on such an epic undertaking, considering the country’s railway industry is in the red, as The Economic Times points out.

“China’s railway sector is still being haunted by deep debts. Therefore, even with the government’s support, it must persuade banks to lend a colossal amount of money,” an unnamed expert from Beijing Jiaotong University told The Economic Times.

Aside from financial challenges, many are skeptical of whether the engineering required to build such a massive network is feasible.

According to The Guardian, “The Bering Strait tunnel alone would require an unprecedented feat of engineering – it would be the world’s longest undersea tunnel – four times the length of the Channel Tunnel” connecting the United Kingdom and France.

China Daily claims that the technology needed to construct the undersea tunnel is already available. But even if it is, The Economist’s Gulliver business travel blog says the railway plan is simply not a realistic or necessary project.

“Languorous tourists might love it, just as they do the Orient Express or the Ghan train through the Australian Outback, and I suppose it might also carry some freight. But still, there is no practical case for it,” the blog post’s author writes. “Nonetheless, such ambition is to be admired in an abstract way.”

The Guardian notes that it is unclear whether China has consulted Russia, the U.S. or Canada about the project.

via China Says It Wants To Build Massive Railway To America.

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09/05/2014

China to earmark over half of foreign aid for Africa: Premier Li – Xinhua | English.news.cn

ABUJA, May 8 (Xinhua) — China will earmark more than half of its foreign aid for Africa and attach no preconditions, visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said here Thursday.

ANGOLA-CHINA-LI KEQIANG-ARRIVAL

“China will, as always, continue to increase its assistance to Africa in both quantity and quality to the extent of its ability, ensuring that more than half of its foreign aid will go to Africa,” Li told a World Economic Forum on Africa in the Nigerian capital.

Hailing Africa as an important pole in world politics, a new pole in global economic growth and a colorful pole in human civilization, Li said that the development of Africa will make the world more democratic, stable, dynamic and colorful, and is conducive to world peace, development and progress.

“It would be better to have more poles than less in the world political and economic landscape,” he said.

The Chinese premier pledged that Beijing will help Africa develop the networks of high-speed railways, expressways and regional airports, saying infrastructure construction, transportation in particular, should be a priority in achieving inclusive growth.

Referring to an African “dream of the century” depicted by African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to connect African capitals with high-speed railways, Li said China stands ready to help with the mega project.

China is ready to carry out all-dimensional cooperation with Africa on high-speed railways, including their planning, designing, construction and management, Li said.

China is also willing to set up a high-speed railway research and development center in Africa, he added.

Li stressed that cooperation between China and African countries is based on good faith and openness, saying his country is willing to share its advanced and applicable technologies and management expertise without reservation.

China is also ready to step up collaboration with international organizations and relevant countries to make a joint contribution to Africa’s development, he added.

Li also pledged to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in green and low carbon development and make sure the Chinese enterprises operating in Africa fulfill their social responsibilities.

He stressed that China will never attach political conditions to its assistance to Africa and will never use its aid programs to interfere in the internal affairs of African countries.

Li also assured the audience that China continues to enjoy solid foundation for sustained economic growth despite recent slowdown.

China will give more attention to the quality and efficiency of growth and make growth more inclusive and sustainable, the premier said.

“We have the confidence and capability to meet the expected growth target of around 7.5 percent for this year and maintain a medium-high growth for a fairly long period of time to come,” he said.

This is good news for African countries and the global economy at large, he said.

The Chinese premier, currently in Angola for a visit, started on Sunday his first Africa tour since taking office in March last year. He had visited Ethiopia and Nigeria, and will travel to Kenya.

via China to earmark over half of foreign aid for Africa: Premier Li – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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09/05/2014

Wheat vs. Rice: How China’s North-South Culinary Divide Shapes Personality – China Real Time Report – WSJ

In China, as in many countries, the north-south divide runs deep. People from the north are seen as hale and hearty, while southerners are often portrayed as cunning, cultured traders. Northerners are taller than southerners. The north eats noodles, while the south eats rice—and according to new research, when it comes to personality, that difference has meant everything.

A study published Friday by a group of psychologists in the journal Science finds that China’s noodle-slurping northerners are more individualistic, show more “analytic thought” and divorce more frequently. By contrast, the authors write, rice-eating southerners show more hallmarks traditionally associated with East Asian culture, including more “holistic thought” and lower divorce rates.

The reason? Cultivating rice, the authors say, is a lot harder. Picture a rice paddy, its delicate seedlings tucked in a bed of water. They require careful tending and many hours of labor—by some estimates, twice as much as wheat—as well as reliance on irrigation systems that require neighborly cooperation. As the authors write, for southerners growing rice, “strict self-reliance might have meant starvation.”

Growing wheat, by contrast, the north’s staple grain, is much simpler. One Chinese farming guide from the 1600s quoted in the study advised aspiring farmers that “if one is short of labor power, it is best to grow wheat.”

To produce their findings, the authors evaluated the attitudes of 1,162 Han Chinese students in Beijing and Liaoning in the north and in Fujian, Guangdong, Yunnan and Sichuan in the south. To control for other factors that distinguish the north and south—such as climate, dialect and contact with herding cultures—the authors also analyzed differences between various neighboring counties in five central provinces along China’s rice-wheat border.

According to the authors, the influence of rice cultivation can help explain East Asia’s “strangely persistent interdependence.” For example, they say South Korea and Japan have remained less individualistic than Western countries, even as they’ve grown more wealthy.

The authors aren’t alone in observing the influence various crops have on shaping culture. Malcolm Gladwell in his 2008 book “Outliers” also drew connections between a hard-working ethic (measured by a willingness to fill out long, tedious questionnaires) to a historical tradition of rice cultivation in places such as South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, given that the farming of such crops is arguably an equally tedious chore.

But what will happen to such differences after people move away from tending such crops, as is now happening across China? The study cites findings that U.S. regions settled by Scottish and Irish herders show more violence even long after most herders’ descendants have found other lines of work as evidence that cultural traits stubbornly resist change, even over time. (Herders, psychologists theorize, are ready to put their lives on the line to protect their animals against thieves or attack.)

“In the case of China,” the authors conclude, “only time will tell.”

via Wheat vs. Rice: How China’s North-South Culinary Divide Shapes Personality – China Real Time Report – WSJ.

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09/05/2014

China’s ‘New Silk Road’ Vision Revealed | The Diplomat

On Thursday, China’s state-owned Xinhua News Agency unveiled an ongoing feature entitled “New Silk Road, New Dreams.” The series promises to “dig up the historical and cultural meaning of the Silk Road, and spread awareness of China’s friendly policies towards neighboring countries.” The first article [Chinese] was titled  “How Can the World Be Win-Win? China Is Answering the Question.”

Xinhua Silk Road Map

The Xinhua series promises the clearest look so far at China’s vision for its Silk Road Economic Belt as well as the Maritime Silk Road. One of the most intriguing pieces released Thursday was a map showing China’s ambitious visions for the “New Silk Road” and “New Maritime Silk Road.” It’s the clearest vision to date of the scope of China’s Silk Road plan.

According to the map, the land-based “New Silk Road” will begin in Xi’an in central China before stretching west through Lanzhou (Gansu province), Urumqi (Xinjiang), and Khorgas (Xinjiang), which is near the border with Kazakhstan. The Silk Road then runs southwest from Central Asia to northern Iran before swinging west through Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. From Istanbul, the Silk Road crosses the Bosporus Strait and heads northwest through Europe, including Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Germany. Reaching Duisburg in Germany, it swings north to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. From Rotterdam, the path runs south to Venice, Italy — where it meets up with the equally ambitious Maritime Silk Road.

The Maritime Silk Road will begin in Quanzhou in Fujian province, and also hit Guangzhou (Guangdong pronvince), Beihai (Guangxi), and Haikou (Hainan) before heading south to the Malacca Strait. From Kuala Lumpur, the Maritime Silk Road heads to Kolkata, India then crosses the rest of the Indian Ocean to Nairobi, Kenya (the Xinhua map does not include a stop in Sri Lanka, despite indications in February that the island country would be a part of the Maritime Silk Road). From Nairobi, the Maritime Silk Road goes north around the Horn of Africa and moves through the Red Sea into the Mediterranean, with a stop in Athens before meeting the land-based Silk Road in Venice.

The maps of the two Silk Roads drive home the enormous scale of the project: the Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road combined will create a massive loop linking three continents. If any single image conveys China’s ambitions to reclaim its place as the “Middle Kingdom,” linked to the world by trade and cultural exchanges, the Xinhua map is it. Even the name of the project, the Silk Road, is inextricably linked to China’s past as a source of goods and information for the rest of the world.

China’s economic vision is no less expansive than the geographic vision. According to the Xinhua article, the Silk Road will bring “new opportunities and a new future to China and every country along the road that is seeking to develop.” The article envisions an “economic cooperation area” that stretches from the Western Pacific to the Baltic Sea.

Despite this expansive goal, it’s not quite clear yet exactly what will tie together the disparate countries along the New Silk Road (both on land and at sea). China has discussed building up infrastructure (especially railways and ports) along the route, yet the Xinhua article specifically says the vision includes more than simply speedy transportation. China envisions a trade network where “goods are more abundant and trade is more high-end.” Beijing expects the economic contact along the Silk Roads to boost productivity in each country. As part of this vision, China has repeatedly stressed its economic compatibility with many of the countries along the planned route, and offered technological assistance to countries in key industries.

China also envisions the Silk Road as a region of “more capital convergence and currency integration” — in other words, a region where currency exchanges are fluid and easy. Xinhua notes that China’s currency, the renminbi, is becoming more widely used in Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Thailand. Yet the article does not call for the renminbi to become the Silk Road’s primary currency, but rather hopes that local currencies will be the dominant means of economic deals.

From economic exchanges, China hopes to gain closer cultural and political ties with each of the countries along the Silk Road — resulting in a new model of “mutual respect and mutual trust.” The Silk Road creates not just an economic trade route, but a community with “common interests, fate, and responsibilities.” The Silk Road represents China’s visions for an interdependent economic and political community stretching from East Asia to western Europe, and it’s clear that China believes its principles will be the guiding force in this new community. “China’s wisdom for building an open world economy and open international relations is being drawn on more and more each day,” Xinhua wrote.

But for all the ambitious talk, details remain scarce on how this vision will be implemented. Will the land- and sea-based Silk Roads be limited to a string of bilateral agreements between China and individual countries, or between China and regional groups like the European Union and ASEAN? Is there a grander vision, such as a regional free trade zone incorporating all the Silk Road countries?  Or will China be the tie that binds it all together, with no special agreements directly linking, say, Kazakhstan and Germany?

via China’s ‘New Silk Road’ Vision Revealed | The Diplomat.

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08/05/2014

Study Released at World Urban Forum Shows Value of Waste Pickers – Businessweek

You don’t rummage through piles of garbage looking for recyclable items if you have other options in life. Waste pickers are pretty close to the bottom of the career prestige ladder. But they do provide a useful service, simultaneously reducing the volume of waste that goes into landfills and providing useful raw materials like glass, plastic, and paper to manufacturers.

Indian rag pickers search for usable material at a Dhapa dump site, the waste zone in eastern Kolkata

A study released last week at the World Urban Forum in Medellín, Colombia, based on interviews with hundreds of waste pickers, street vendors, and home workers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, finds that all three types of workers “could make greater contributions if local policies and practices supported, rather than hindered, their work.” The study was performed by Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing (Wiego) and its partners in what’s known as the Inclusive Cities project.

Waste pickers are a prime example. Local governments often seem ambivalent about whether to support them or shut them down—for example, by trucking away waste and burying or burning it before anyone has a chance to pick through it.

via Study Released at World Urban Forum Shows Value of Waste Pickers – Businessweek.

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08/05/2014

A Silver Lining in Beijing Smog: Soaring Pollution Penalty Revenues – Businessweek

Looking for a silver lining in Beijing’s gray smog? The city’s environmental protection bureau says fees collected from polluters are soaring, already totaling 88 million yuan ($14 million) this year. That’s way up from 8.34 million yuan in penalties levied over the same period last year, according to the China Daily.

Tiananmen Square during severe pollution on Feb. 25 in Beijing

The surge in penalties isn’t because the smog’s been worse. In January, the fines went up more than 10-fold for major pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ammonia nitrogen.

The higher fees are already helping encourage companies to retire some of their worst habits. “Many companies used to ignore the old discharge fee because it was simply too insignificant,” said Zhong Chonglei, head of the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Team, at a press conference on May 6. “The increased fee has made many companies realize the importance of emission reduction.”

via A Silver Lining in Beijing Smog: Soaring Pollution Penalty Revenues – Businessweek.

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07/05/2014

China’s Premier Li Goes to Africa – Businessweek

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is visiting Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola, and Kenya this week in his first trip to Africa since assuming office. Accompanying him is his wife, Cheng Hong, who is making her first public appearance on a diplomatic mission—and a splash in China’s domestic media, given the relative novelty of top leaders’ wives appearing in public in official roles.

Li speaking on May 5 in Ethiopia

Over the past decade, China’s economic ties to Africa have grown quickly. Trade has risen (PDF) from $10 billion in 2000 to $166.3 billion in 2011. Meanwhile China’s foreign direct investment in Africa has jumped from $392 million in 2005 to $2.5 billion in 2012, according to figures from China’s commerce ministry. Much of that money has gone to infrastructure projects, including roads, dams, mines, and oil rigs.

On Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, Li laid out his vision for the future of China-Africa relations. Speaking at the headquarters of the African Union, he said he imagined a day when all African capitals would be connected by high-speed rail—quickly adding that China’s experience and technology could “help make this dream come true,” according to state-run newswire Xinhua.

via China’s Premier Li Goes to Africa – Businessweek.

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07/05/2014

In China’s Xinjiang, economic divide seen fuelling ethnic unrest | Reuters

Hundreds of migrant workers from distant corners of China pour daily into the Urumqi South railway station, their first waypoint on a journey carrying them to lucrative work in other parts of the far western Xinjiang region.

Uighur women stand next to a street to wait for a bus in downtown Urumqi, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region May 1, 2014. REUTERS-Petar Kujundzic

Like the columns of police toting rifles and metal riot spears that weave between migrants resting on their luggage, the workers are a fixture at the station, which last week was targeted by a bomb and knife attack the government has blamed on religious extremists.

“We come this far because the wages are good,” Shi Hongjiang, 26, from the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, told Reuters outside the station. “Also, the Uighur population is small. There aren’t enough of them to do the work.”

Shi’s is a common refrain from migrant workers, whose experience finding low-skilled work is very different to that of the Muslim Uighur minority.

Employment discrimination, experts say, along with a demographic shift that many Uighurs feel is diluting their culture, is fuelling resentment that spills over into violent attacks directed at Han Chinese, China’s majority ethnic group.

The apparent suicide attack on the station, which killed one bystander, was the latest violence to hit Xinjiang, despite a pledge from China’s President Xi Jinping to rain “crushing blows against violent terrorist forces”.

via In China’s Xinjiang, economic divide seen fuelling ethnic unrest | Reuters.

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