Economist, Feb 9, 2013

choi

(1) China's currency | Yuan for the Money. The rise of China’s currency will change the way the world does business.
http://www.economist.com/news/le ... business-yuan-money

Quote:

"In the last three months of 2012 the amount of trade settled in China’s currency reached almost 900 billion yuan ($145 billion), or 14% of China’s trade, up from almost nothing three years earlier. China accounts for about 15% of the world’s money supply. But until mid-2009 almost all of that money was sealed within its borders.

"The yuan has a long way to go before it becomes a rival to the dollar * * * Its role in financial transactions is piffling. Adding all international payments together, the yuan ranks only 14th, behind Russia’s rouble and Thailand’s baht, according to SWIFT, a firm that ferries payment instructions between banks.

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest of this introduction (to an article in the same issue). (But do view the graphic in the introduction.) And certainly there is no need to read that artilcle which mainly deals with Taiwan's banks starting offering yuan accounts this week.
(b) The first quotation, in the last two sentences, alludes to the fact that yuan accounts for 15% of world monies (which is plural fiorm of "money") but its (yuan's) circulation wasconfined to China until mid-2009.
(c) piffling (adj): "of little worth or importance : TRIVIAL"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/piffling  

choi

(2) Desalination | Costly Drops. Removing salt from seawater might help slake some of northern China’s thirst, but it comes at a high price.
http://www.economist.com/news/ch ... hirst-it-comes-high

My comment:
(a) Please read this article, which is an update on China's desalination and water piping projects.
(b) Beijiang Power and Desalination Plant  (天津滨海新区) 北疆 电厂
(c) The article says, "The city [Tianjin], like most of northern China, is desperately dry. Local water resources per person are less than 7% of the national average."

I am unsure if there is a typo. I mean: Tianjin, like Taiwan, is by the sea, so how can the city get so little rain? On the other hand, many deserts in the world are next to oceans, such as Arabian Peninsula, Namibia and Atacama Desert
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert
(a plateau mostly in Chili; the driest desert in the world)

, which is named after the indigenous people there: Atacama people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_people

(d) The article also says, "A cubic metre of water from the plant costs about 8 yuan ($1.30) to produce—slightly more than the price paid by industrial users, but 60% higher than the tariff for households. Mr Tan [Peidong, a deputy general manager of the Beijiang facility] says a cubic metre of Yangzi-basin water will cost about 10 yuan. He says he is 'very hopeful' that some of his output will be piped to Beijing. Supplying desalinated water to the capital will still cost about the same or only a little more than channelling in water from the south, he reckons."

I did not know teh water piped from Yangtze river to Beijing would sell at such a premium (to households). (I knew water diversion project would be costly.)

choi

(3) The export drought | Better Out Than In. Britain is an open, trading nation that does not export enough. Blame the lack of medium-sized firms and the frothy years before the financial crisis
http://www.economist.com/news/br ... e-lack-medium-sized

Note:
(a) The title (Better Out Than In) is from the 2001 film Shrek.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrek
(i) Memorable quotes for SHREK. IMBD, undated.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126029/quotes
(under the heading "Shrek burps in front of Donkey and Fiona")
(ii) burp (n, vi): "BELCH"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/burp
(b) Felixstowe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felixstowe
(a seaside town in Suffolk County, UK; The town gives its name to the nearby Port of Felixstowe, which is the largest container port in UK)
(c) Export from UK is so weak that 60% of the containers in cargo ships returning to Asia (from UK) are empty. thus the article comments, "The country that once boasted 40% of the global goods trade has become an export pygmy."

(d) The article next observes, "In 1990 Britain placed fifth in a league table of goods exporters, in line with the size of its economy. * * * It now stands 11th, behind Belgium, Italy and Russia. Its colonial links, which for other countries create strong trade ties, appear to be failing: in 2012 Britain was 19th in a ranking of exporters to India, bagging just 1.5% of the market."

league table
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_table

(e) Afterwards, the article explains the three components of

current account.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_account
(balance of trade (further divided into goods AND services), income and transfer)

Then the article obseres, "In some ways the country is still world class. It has had a trade surplus in services since 1966 and now exports more of them [services] than any country except America.

(f) The article finally nentions "Britain has a rump of firms that are so inward looking they are unlikely to export much."
(g) European Exchange Rate Mechanism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Exchange_Rate_Mechanism
(section 3 Pound sterling's forced withdrawal from the ERM)
(h) Urenco Group
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urenco_Group
(a nuclear fuel company operating several uranium enrichment plants; Headquarters  Marlow, Buckinghamshire, UK)

Set up in 1971, URENCO is acronym for URanium ENrichment Co.
(i) rump (n):
"1b: BUTTOCKS
* * *
3: a small or inferior remnant or offshoot; especially: a group (as a parliament) carrying on in the name of the original body after the departure or expulsion of a large number of its members"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rump

choi

(4) Retail technology | We Snoop to Conquer. Security cameras are watching honest shoppers, too.
http://www.economist.com/news/bu ... oo-we-snoop-conquer
("SHOPPING online is a revealing act. Websites know what catches visitors’ fancy, how long they linger and where to find them when they leave. Traditional shopkeepers are blind by comparison. Who enters their stores and how they behave are mysteries, which are only partly solved when someone buys something. * * * Bricks-and-mortar retailers would like to change that")

My comment: A website knows where the visitor (to the website) comes from and depart to, through the URLs before and after the visit.

choi

(5) Free exchange | Nomencracy. Surnames offer depressing clues to the extent of social mobility over generations.

My comment:
(a) summary:
(i) Miles Corak of University of Ottawa reckons that in US and Britain, "around 50% of income differences in one generation are attributable to differences in the previous generation (in more egalitarian Scandinavia, the number is less than 30%)."
(ii)
(A) Gregory Clark of University of California, Davis, "reckons that in famously mobile Sweden, some 70-80% of a family social status is transmitted from generation to generation across a span of centuries." (B) Mr Clark and Neil Cummins of Queens College, City Unversity of New York, using data from probate recors of 19th-century estates and concludes, "Again, some 70-80% of economic advantage seems to be transmitted from generation to generation."

(b) The title ("Nomencracy") is a made-up word, composed of
(i) nomen (as in nomenclature)

nomen
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nomen
and (ii) -cracy (as in democracy).
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cracy

(c) Quotation (ii)(B) alludes to

Clark G and Cummins N, What is the True Rate of Social Mobility? Surnames and social mobility in England, 1800-2012 (to be published in a jornal).
(d) Hao Y (M) and Clark G, Social Mobility in China, 1645-2012: A Surname Study. (to be published in a journal).
http://www.maxhaoeconucdavis.com ... ob_market_paper.pdf
(e) There is no need to read the article.