Tag: economy

The owners of the future [Articles]

Jaron Lanier, author of  “Who owns the future?”, says we’re being enslaved by free information. He explains in this interview.

Evgeny Morozov takes the opposite view – he thinks there are many simpler ways to protect the middle classes. Pushing technology companies to provide better working conditions — it was only last year that Amazon agreed to install air conditioning in its warehouses — and closing numerous tax loopholes would be a good start. Lanier’s solution, alas, is an odd and unfortunate distraction.

Excelling in Economics [Article]

Carmen Reinhart & Ken Rogoff, the two economists who influenced the “austerity drive” that most Western governments, predominantly the US, have been enforcing in the last three or so years, made an error in their calculations in a spreadsheet. “How much unemployment did Reinhart and Rogoff’s arithmetic mistake cause? asks Dean Baker, in the Guardian

If facts mattered in economic policy debates, this should be the cause for a major reassessment of the deficit reduction policies being pursued in the United States and elsewhere. It should also cause reporters to be a bit slower to accept such sweeping claims at face value.

Rentals – china style [Article]

There is a price for everything – including for pogress. This news article covers the newest business opportunity for young males to hire themselves out as boyfriends, to help young Chinese women who go home to see their parents once a year for the holidays  deflect questions about settling down. Chinese women take ‘rental boyfriends’ home for the holidays.