In The News

Bud Crowded Out by Craft Beer Craze

Tripp Mickle November 27, 2014
Big-factory beers have fallen out of favor as customers increasingly demand the flavors offered with small and local craft beverages. Some bars no longer sell major brands like Budweiser. Meanwhile, many of the craft beer makers began as do-it-yourself home brewers, tinkering with recipes and relying on local ingredients. Young beer drinkers have flocked to the diverse flavors, paying more for...

10 Insights From a Decade of Measuring the Gender Gap

Saadia Zahidi November 20, 2014
Fair wages motivate employees to work hard to produce and innovate. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index suggests that unequal pay for women represents a huge lost opportunity for many nations. The index tracks national differences and progress, reports Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum: Women are more educated than before though gaps linger for even primary education, and...

Map of International Phone Calls Explains Globalization

Tim Fernholz November 12, 2014
International phone calls were once limited to wealthy nations. Shipper DHL has released its third edition of global connectedness index that tracks all manner of exchanges between countries, describing it as detailed analysis of the state of globalization. Tim Fernholz focuses on phone calls for Quartz and reports that growing diasporas of workers and dropping phone rates are driving global...

The Zombie System: How Capitalism Has Gone Off the Rails

Michael Sauga October 27, 2014
The industrial world is failing to produce jobs and opportunities for citizens, and its leaders are at a loss for how to jump-start the economy after the lackluster performance of previous efforts. “Politicians and business leaders everywhere are now calling for new growth initiatives, but the governments' arsenals are empty,” writes Michael Sauga for Spiegel Online. “The billions spent on...

Oil Prices Continue to Define Geopolitics

October 24, 2014
Oil prices are in decline around the globe, reflecting a slowdown in China and the eurozone combined with increased production in nations whose budgets and stability rely on steady revenues. OPEC, which controls about 40 percent of production, fails to coordinate. Low prices mean lower revenues, but also provide opportunity or greater market share. Stratfor Global Intelligence reviews the effect...

The Age of Vulnerability

Joseph E. Stiglitz October 20, 2014
Studies confirm that inequality continues in the United States as income rises for the very rich but stagnates or even declines for the majority. Economist Joseph Stiglitz describes a study from the UN Development Programme for an essay for Project Syndicate: “America ranks fifth according to HDI, below Norway, Australia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. But when its score is adjusted for...

Beijing Puts Hong Kong Business on Alert

Chris Dodd September 1, 2014
Hong Kong will have elections in 2017, but voters must select from candidates approved by China. Protesters plan to target the financial district. “Beijing’s intransigence and protesters’ plans to bring traffic in Hong Kong’s streets to a standstill are a threat to the city’s reputation as a stable financial centre,” writes Chris Dodd for AsiaFinance. Credit agencies and banks have issued...