Nouveaux venus dans la blogosphère

Bravo à l’équipe de Cécile Philippe, Directrice de l’Institut Economique Molinari (IEM), petit think tank français qui fait son petit bonhomme de chemin et qui promeut de bonnes idées économiques. La popularisation de ces idées va certainement franchir un seuil important avec leur attribution d’un blog au Journal du Dimanche et à La Provence.

Cécile Philippe est auteur d’un livre sur comment protéger l’environnement par le marché, « C’est trop tard pour la terre », édité chez Lattès.

US, heal thyself?

The UK’s Miliband just cautioned the US Democratic candidates against taking a protectionist turn… But the US’s ills do not so much seem to lie in imports from China,  rather in its healthcare system.

Short follow-up, therefore, on my previous post and Krugman’s justified if ill-interpreted obsession with the healthcare system. Clive Crook in the FT has a good piece today on a new book by Ezekiel Emanuel, Healthcare Guaranteed.

Crook’s article starts thus:

“In US public policy, all roads lead to healthcare. Remorseless pressure on public spending? Blame Medicare. Economic insecurity? Fear of losing health benefits is a chief cause. Stagnant wages and worsening inequality? Look to the cost of employer-provided insurance. “

Blogging pause

A set of circumstances leads me to not being able to blog regularly in the coming months. Hope to be back again as soon as I can…..

Easter break

Regular readers might have noticed a fall in output in this blog recently. A high work load [and a social life that has been more eventful than usual...] has kept me away from the blogosphere. Now I am off for a little break and hope to be back soon with some fresh ideas. Happy Easter!

Grounds to be optimistic

There are many grounds to be pessimistic: Inflation and rising food and commodity prices, financial crunches, “Losing Russia”, post-cold war diplomatic farces in South America, the Darfur conflict, etc. etc. (Oh, I forgot Nicolas Sarkozy - I better not think of him…). Worse, antidepressants are not as effective as one would think, we socialise less, and no longer have time for children.

Well, not being a consumer of anti-depressants, I can’t possibly live with this gloom. So I looked for grounds to be optimistic to keep me going. I found some:

- Russia will probably not be as nasty as everybody fears - business will prevail.

- Increased trade rather helps improve air quality in China

- Politically, and in matters of immigration, Spaniards, for European standards, really rock. France is probably even finally discovering the market economy…

Blogging around and awarding randomly, subjectively, and unfairly…

As you already guessed, shopping in Brussels is not the best option, highly restricted by useless restrictions and excessive labour costs. What is left, once you managed - after more than a month (if lucky) - to get a decent internet connection, is: to blog around (that saves money!). So I’ve been blogging around and finding out/rediscovering a few things. Here my shopping list:

Best European blogroll: Kosmopolit.

Favourite African blog: Ideias de Mocambique 

Best economist: Greg Mankiw.

Best French economic-cum-humour blog: Econoclastes. But there are a few other talented Frenchies: Ecopublix, Blogizmo, and many others…

The incredible Alaskan-based trade blogger. Ben Muse. Managing three blogs!: US-Korea, Ben Muse, and, brand new - The Custom House…

The most thorough international trade and globalisation blogger: Jonathan Dingel

The Money and Power academic geeks: IPE Zone. 

Favourite international journo’ commentary blog. Chic, glitz, glam’ and never-ending wit: Gideon Rachman

The King: Mr Wolf…

Honestly, my personal favourite blog is a cooking blog. The lady was so talented, that she was offered a job to manage a major French cooking website. She’s left with no more time to blog…. Quel dommage!

Humanity on the move: figures on migration

Sussex University launched a new global database on international migrant stocks. Just announced at Vox.EU

Tycoons

Globalisation has brought with it its breed of new super-rich. Forbes recently released its new rich list. The richest man in the world now is a Mexican telecoms magnate, Carlos Slim, worth US$ 59bn. He just overtook so far unbeatable Bill Gates. The new super-rich appear in the world’s booming emerging markets. Mexico. China. Russia. The Middle East. India. The existence of such super-rich and powerful men (yes, they are generally male) feeds into the debate about inequality: is the appearance of such a class of billionaires normal, morally and socially acceptable, …. and economically sound?

An excellent book by the Swedish economist Anders Aslund takes stock of transition to the capitalist system in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. One chapter analyses “The Role of Oligarchs”:

Quote of the day

“The fall of the dollar is not the fall of the dollar, it’s the fall of the North American Empire; we have to be prepared for that”.

Happy joy ride, Hugo!

(For more background)

Turning point?

I have been blogging on “globalisation” for almost a year now. I intended to somehow get to the essence of the process, grasp it, explain it, pin it down. I have ended blogging about individual countries, France, Europe, Russia, China. I have made short inroads into energy, development, WTO and trade issues, immigration. I realised how much I became a promoter of global economic integration. I oppose every type of politics that stops people from plugging into the buzzing stream of international interaction.

What am I saying now, taking stock after a small year?