Society

Mammoth re-engineering project begins: Germany

28 Dec 2021

Its manufacturing-led, carbon intensive economy is ill-suited to the 21st century. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and firms like Volkswagen will spend more on green and digital investment. The trick will be to plough on despite short-term supply chain problems and rising labour costs.

Climate-change money will flow freely to Plan B

24 Dec 2021

COP26’s so-so outcome makes damaging temperature rises more likely. At some point, optimal portfolios may require guns and canned food. Until then investors will lean towards shares in Syngenta, Veolia and other companies that aid adaptation to global warming not just mitigation.

Zuckerberg has metaverse rivals who mean business

23 Dec 2021

Meta Platforms and Epic Games are trumpeting visions of an immersive, 3D internet. But even ignoring the technological challenges, consumers’ appetite for full-on virtual socialising is uncertain. The corporate world is a more manageable target – and that is Microsoft’s domain.

Rishi Sunak picks bad time to play Scrooge

21 Dec 2021

Britain’s finance minister has offered 1 bln pounds to companies hit by the new Omicron variant. The package looks meagre compared to his previous offerings and France’s support measures. Given the UK is raising rates, Sunak could have deployed a bit more fiscal firepower.

Riyadh will flip from No-Go to FOMO for business

21 Dec 2021

Lifestyle reasons mean bosses have long preferred Dubai to the Saudi capital as a Gulf HQ. A mix of the kingdom’s financial promise and government strong-arming means that could start to change. The city’s social scene is already slowly making it less of a punishment posting.

Live now, pay later is fintech’s latest extension

21 Dec 2021

Instalment financing, rebranded as “buy now, pay later,” has been the hot consumer financial innovation powering groups like Klarna and Afterpay. Look for the next iteration to entice consumers beyond shopping and leisure, including doctor’s visits, utilities and even taxes.

The Exchange: Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg

21 Dec 2021

With an election looming early next year, the Liberal Party’s deputy leader discusses everything from booster shots to Big Tech, climate change to China, immigration to inflation, and more. He tells Jeffrey Goldfarb how his country can overcome the many economic challenges ahead.

Davos delay will stoke gabfest demand

20 Dec 2021

January’s Swiss conflab is off, for the second year running. In 2021, Zoom calls and rival events like COP26 raised the risk Davos could lose its relevance. In 2022, enough bankers were looking forward to the slopes to imply that a summer event will still get takers.

Big Meat will channel VW-Tesla in alt-protein war

20 Dec 2021

Elon Musk stole a march on automakers, forcing them to play catchup on electric cars. A similar dynamic could play out in real and plant-based meat. The likes of Impossible Foods have a Tesla-like lead, but old hands like Tyson and JBS can use M&A to play tortoise to their hare.

Capital Calls: Bundesbank, Biogen

20 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: The new head of Germany's central bank is a reassuringly boring choice; cutting the price of its Alzheimer's drug could help Biogen squeeze something out of what looks like a flop.

Xi’s 2022 GDP target will be moment of truth

20 Dec 2021

One of the Chinese president’s signature policy initiatives was to curb property-related risks. That implies slower but higher quality growth: 4% or so in 2022. Outside advisers are pushing for more. The final economic decision will signal the extent of Xi Jinping’s power.

Capital Calls: McDonald’s makes ex-CEO pay

16 Dec 2021

Concise views on global finance: The fast-food chain settled its lawsuit with ousted boss Steve Easterbrook, recovering compensation now worth $105 million.

China’s metaverse will be a tiny place

16 Dec 2021

Stocks in local companies associated with digital worlds blew up in 2021. The country’s video-games industry, tech expertise and masses of disaffected youth make it an ideal place to push the bleeding edge of virtual reality. That’s precisely why Beijing is squashing it.

The Exchange: Top chef who turned his back on meat

14 Dec 2021

Daniel Humm’s Eleven Madison Park in New York garnered three Michelin stars and was voted the world’s best restaurant in 2017. But after the pandemic, the marathoning Swiss transplant pivoted his kitchen entirely towards plant-based cuisine. He tells Rob Cox why.

Longer weekends are the next economic battleground

10 Dec 2021

The United Arab Emirates is slicing half a day off the working week while companies experiment with shorter hours. A lasting shift requires a majority to follow, even as tech makes it harder to log off. But post-pandemic workers may be more willing to trade labour for leisure.

Review: An antidote to the cult of busyness

3 Dec 2021

The pandemic focused minds on life’s brevity. Oliver Burkeman delves into fruitful approaches to using that limited time in “Four Thousand Weeks”. It’s an articulate reflection on distraction, the joyless urgency of productivity hacks, and why keeping options open may be futile.

Omicron may give inflation a chance to bed in

29 Nov 2021

The new coronavirus variant could ease short-term price pressures if it triggers wider lockdowns that curb consumption. But if it prolongs supply-chain problems the reverse will be true in the longer term. Especially if cautious central bankers delay tightening monetary policy.

New Covid-19 variant raises risk of recovery limbo

26 Nov 2021

Britain and others have revived travel bans on South Africa amid a new viral mutation. Countries with low vaccination rates are most vulnerable. But if the virus evades vaccines, new lockdowns may be necessary at a time when governments and central banks have depleted firepower.

New German coalition has old problem with spending

24 Nov 2021

The three parties that will form the next government want to invest more in green and digital projects while respecting strict debt limits. Cutting budget subsidies and using off-balance-sheet vehicles may help. But the plans fall far too short of big-spending peers like America.

Foreigners will get the best buzz off German weed

24 Nov 2021

Berlin is preparing to light up its recreational cannabis market. With potential sales taxes and savings of 5 bln euros a year, the move could give the economy added puff. But German players may at first have to play second fiddle to Canadians that dominate the medicinal market.