Global Agenda articles from November 2008

Global Agenda archives from November 2008

Greeks buying gifts; Greek art; Can regional auctions buck market trends?
November 1, 2008... Can regional auctions buck market trends? SOTHEBY'S held its first Greek sale in 2001. It was part of an auction-house-inspired trend of sales dedicated to particular countries or regions, such as Scandinavia, Arabia and Iran, and South...

The long and short of it; Bond markets; Will we see a "Bernanke put"?
November 3, 2008... Will we see a "Bernanke put"? THE "Greenspan put" was a term devised to describe the habit of the former Federal Reserve chairman, who would cut interest rates whenever the stockmarket seemed in crisis. The idea was that equity investors...

Diamond light; Synchrotrons; A particle accelerator illuminates the earth.
November 3, 2008... A particle accelerator illuminates the earth ON A fresh, cold morning in Oxfordshire, your correspondent has just hailed a cab with the lines "Take me to the Diamond light source, please". Everybody in this slice of rural Oxfordshire in...

A plan for Japan?
November 3, 2008... Worries about the financial crisis grow in Japan Japan has stepped up its response to the global financial crisis by cutting interest rates and unveiling a second fiscal stimulus package. The measures are likely to have at best a modest...

The axeman cometh; Corporate restructuring; Job cuts and how to survive them.
November 4, 2008... Job cuts and how to survive them IN C-SUITES around the world, horribly tough decisions are being made about next year's budget--and, in most cases, given the dire economic outlook, about whom to "let go". This is perhaps the toughest...

And Banda plays on; Banda plays on in Zambia; The narrow electoral victory of Rupiah Banda in Zambia.
November 4, 2008... The opposition in Zambia challenges Rupiah Banda's narrow electoral victory The opposition is launching a legal challenge to the presidential election result. The case is unlikely to succeed, but could prove a distraction for the new head...

The ghost of wartimes past; Japan and the second world war; Japan’s history battles erupt again.
November 5, 2008... Japan's history wars erupt again THE farce has some distinctly Japanese elements, not all of them necessarily clarified in the retelling. The first is that a hotel and condominium developer would think to sponsor a tasty [yen]3m ($30,000)...

Cutting back.(Reserve Bank of Australia cut its interest rates )
November 5, 2008... The Australian central bank cuts interest rates again Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), has made its second drastic interest-rate cut in the space of a month. The move is a further sign that, despite still-high...

Perfidy from Albion; Russia and the West; Britain needs to stiffen its spine when dealing with the Kremlin.
November 6, 2008... Britain needs to stiffen its spine when dealing with the Kremlin AFTER the Russian-Georgian war, Britain stood out as the only big European country willing to talk tough to the Kremlin. On August 27th in Kyiv, David Miliband, the foreign...

Reform needed; Reform needed in India; India's financial system remains inefficient.
November 6, 2008... India's financial system remains inefficient India's financial system is dominated by state-owned commercial banks that allocate capital inefficiently. Part of this inefficiency stems from regulations that require banks to provide funding...

Wireless at warp speed; Wireless broadcasting; White space promises to put WiFi on steroids.
November 7, 2008... White space promises to put WiFi on steroids HOW much would you pay for unlimited access to WiFi hotspots that stretched for miles instead of a few hundred feet, provided unbroken connections even deep inside buildings, and offered...

The Obama effect; The Obama effect in the Middle East; Barack Obama may not change much in the Middle East after all.
November 7, 2008... Barack Obama may not change much in the Middle East after all Barack Obama's election victory has caught the imagination of people across the world and has done much to restore the image of the US, which has taken a battering under the Bush...

Plates of steel; Richard Serra; The definition of space.
November 8, 2008... The definition of space ANYONE who invested in art during the bubble years of the past decade will have been watching recent sales as avidly as analysts have been eyeing the plunging Dow. Things don't look too good in the salerooms. On...

Wireless at warp speed; Wireless broadcasting; White space promises to put WiFi on steroids.
November 11, 2008... White space promises to put WiFi on steroids HOW much would you pay for unlimited access to WiFi hotspots that stretched for miles instead of a few hundred feet, provided unbroken connections even deep inside buildings, and offered...

Plates of steel; Richard Serra; The definition of space.
November 13, 2008... The definition of space ANYONE who invested in art during the bubble years of the past decade will have been watching recent sales as avidly as analysts have been eyeing the plunging Dow. Things don't look too good in the salerooms. On...

Green halo; Protecting oceans; George Bush’s environmental legacy.
November 17, 2008... George Bush's environmental legacy WITH the elections over, one might be forgiven for thinking that George Bush has nothing left to do. Any large or controversial measures can be undone when the new administration arrives in January. So...

Neighbourliness in Asia.
November 17, 2008... Asian countries lend each other a financial hand On the sidelines of the G20 summit, China, Japan and South Korea on November 14th said they would expedite a joint effort among Asian countries to help each other weather the global financial...

Green halo; Protecting oceans; George Bush’s environmental legacy.
November 18, 2008... George Bush's environmental legacy WITH the elections over, one might be forgiven for thinking that George Bush has nothing left to do. Any large or controversial measures can be undone when the new administration arrives in January. So...

Japan in recession.
November 18, 2008... Japan enters a recession Japan's economy fell into recession in the third quarter of 2008, as businesses sharply cut back on spending and as net exports made a negative contribution to growth. The data underline the impact that the global...

Angola-gate.
November 19, 2008... Relations between Angola and France remain troubled The trial in Paris of 42 individuals accused of involvement in illegal arms deals to Angola is threatening to upset efforts by the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to draw a line under...

The tiger tamed.
November 20, 2008... Ireland's economy faces three years of declining output The Irish economy is already in a deep recession and it now appears almost certain that activity will continue to contract over the next two years. Unemployment is rising sharply and...

The video wars continue; High-definition movies; Rumours of Blu-ray’s death are greatly exaggerated.
November 21, 2008... Reports of Blu-ray's death are greatly exaggerated AMONG the few things capable of raising a smile in these dismal days are the plummeting prices in big-box stores. Still, with what promises to be the worst recession in living memory barely...

Cold comfort for Iceland.
November 21, 2008... Iceland faces a long road to recovery Final IMF approval of a US$2.1bn loan to Iceland marks only the first step in restoring the country's credibility in international markets. Supported by additional loans from a number of countries, the...

Salvation in Cyrillic; The Russian sales; Will Russian buyers rescue the art market?
November 22, 2008... Will Russian buyers rescue the art market? THE 2008 autumn art-auction season, barely a month old, has been characterised by two extremes: stacks of unsold works, and a few eye-watering purchases. Day after day, auctioneers on both...

The video wars continue; High-definition movies; Rumours of Blu-ray's death are greatly exaggerated.
November 24, 2008... Reports of Blu-ray's death are greatly exaggerated AMONG the few things capable of raising a smile in these dismal days are the plummeting prices in big-box stores. Still, with what promises to be the worst recession in living memory barely...

Delphic gloom; Banks and equities; A worrying fall in British equities.
November 24, 2008... A worrying fall in British equities LIKE ancient oracles, technical analysts make mysterious pronouncements based on mysterious patterns. And also like those mouthpieces for the divine, their predictions can be infuriatingly imprecise. But...

Sub-subprime; Cities; Greener thinking for the poorest cities.
November 24, 2008... Greener thinking for the poorest cities WORLD HABITAT DAY last month was marked by a prize rewarding smart urban planning - supposedly in the "greening" of cities. This year top honours went to Nanjing in China, with commendations for...

Shrinking cushion.
November 24, 2008... Russia is spending heavily to support the rouble Russia insists that its US$453bn reserves are large enough to prevent any sharp moves in the exchange rate--yet these reserves have fallen by 24% since August and the rate of depletion is...

Delphic gloom; Banks and equities; A worrying fall in American equities.
November 25, 2008... A worrying fall in American equities LIKE ancient oracles, technical analysts make mysterious pronouncements based on mysterious patterns. And also like those mouthpieces for the divine, their predictions can be infuriatingly imprecise....

Banking on a banker; Timothy Geithner; Does the Treasury secretary's past career matter?
November 25, 2008... Does the Treasury secretary's past career matter? SO THE new Treasury Secretary, it seems, will be Timothy Geithner, currently president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As the top economic official in Barack Obama's administration...

Venezuela's opposition makes progress; The opposition made notable gains in local elections in Venezuela; Notable gains for the opposition in Venezuela.
November 25, 2008... The opposition made notable gains in local elections in Venezuela Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, has portrayed the results of the November 23rd local and regional elections as a personal and ideological victory. Yet the outcome was...

Salvation in Cyrillic; The Russian sales; Will Russian buyers rescue the art market?
November 25, 2008... Will Russian buyers rescue the art market? THE 2008 autumn art-auction season, barely a month old, has been characterised by two extremes: stacks of unsold works, and a few eye-watering purchases. Day after day, auctioneers on both...

Too much or too little? South-East Asian democracy; Thailand and the Philippines give Asian democracy a bad name.
November 26, 2008... Thailand and the Philippines give Asian democracy a bad name THAILAND'S three-year-old political crisis continued to rage this week, as the increasingly desperate anti-government movement, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), made a...

From Havel to Habermas; The 1989 revolutions; Central Europe's missing political philosophy.
November 27, 2008... Central Europe's missing political philosophy THEY gripped the world, but left political philosophers yawning. According to Jurgen Habermas, a German philosopher, the revolutions that overturned decades of totalitarian rule in central and...

Protection plans; Nicolas Sarkozy pushes his vision for a more state-friendly market economy; Protection plans in France.
November 27, 2008... The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, is pushing his idea of a state-friendly market economy France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has responded to the disruption of global financial markets since September by promising the "return of...

Getting a grip; Motoring; Enough of these low-profile tyres.
November 28, 2008... Enough of these low-profile tyres ONE of the handy things about having a four-post car lift at home is that you get to see everything at eye-level. Recently, your correspondent noticed some hair-thin cracks in the tyres of one of his...

Back to the fund; Turkey once again seeks help from the IMF; Turkey once again is seeking IMF help.
November 28, 2008... Turkey once again seeks help from the IMF After some initial hesitation, the Turkish government appears to have resolved to seek an agreement with the IMF to obtain fresh funding in order to shore up investor confidence and meet its...

Any port in a storm; Equities and bonds; Examining the yield gap between equities and bonds.
November 30, 2008... Examining the yield gap between equities and bonds RECEIVING dividends should be the main motivation for long-term investors. The investment Methuselah who bought [pounds sterling]100 worth of British equities back at the start of 2000...

The shock of the new; Rediscovered Old Masters; Nothing excites the art market like finding what was lost.
November 30, 2008... Nothing excites the art market like finding what was lost THE highlight of the Old Master sales in London this summer was a lovely little fete galante depicting a guitarist and an amorous couple painted by Jean-Antoine Watteau, a master of...