100 Best Inventions of 2020

The List according to Time Magazine. There are different category, but all are equally fascinating. Explore, and maybe one day we can invent something wonderful.

Innovation in Education - Kiri Toys. Full article here. Credit - Time.

12th Malaysia Plan, 2021 - 2025

The 12th Malaysia Plan.

Image credit - TheEdgeMarket

10 Movies for Economists

The Netflix latest original Korean drama 'Squid Game,' is currently trending. The drama is a horror thriller that promotes game-based culture.

If you want to watch movies closer to economics, here are the top-10 list according to this article.

1. Moneyball

2. The Wolf of Wall Street

3. Wall Street

4. Arbitrage

5. The Informat

6. Too Big to Fail

7. A Beautiful Mind

8. Margin Call

9. The Big Short

10. Inside Job

Image credit - MagicalQuote

100 Great Paintings of All Time

I never know the painting of 'Starry Night' by Van Gogh is explaining movement, fluid and turbulence. Relativity. Math in the form of great art. There is another video explaining the math behind the painting Starry Night.

Enjoy the great art. I include the quotation from Goethe and Da Vinci as well. 

Source: Kiddopedia Youtube

Image credit - Quotefancy

Image credit - Internet

 

Activated Charcoal

While searching for charcoal for my orchids, I  come across this  article. Activated charcoal has many usage - it is a natural water filter, a deodorant, skin care, skin infection etc. 

Press-Coal Iron - IndiaMART

Global Push for Free Drinks

 Istanbul plans to restore 40 public fountains each year. Excerpt from the full article:

"Cities such as London, San Francisco, and Melbourne have made installing new water fountains part of their strategy for fighting obesity, especially among children. Environmental concerns have been another major instigator of the resurgent interest in public drinking fountains, in part because they promote climate resilience by helping residents cope with more frequent heatwaves. Public fountains also provide an alternative to the enormous plastic waste and high energy cost associated with bottled water; by one measure, more than 1 million plastic bottles of water are sold globally every minute."

The June 11, 1859 edition of the New York Times noted a new amenity in the city.

Source: The New York Times Archive, from the article above. 

Starch from CO2?

No more farming in the future? Full article here.

Source: CleanPNG

Green Sukuk

The World Bank Group Policy Research Paper (2018) discussing how to create a green sukuk market in Sub-Saharan Africa. You can also read green sukuk in Italy and green sukuk in Malaysia.

'Many a mickle makes a muckle.'

Image credit - IFR

Patient

Image credit - The Threshold Society

On the Debt Limit

Because of the pandemic, many countries are raising the debt limit. Is there any way around it? Revisit the article by Jason Furman and Rohit Kumar (2017), published in WSJ.  Another article suggest use the debt ceiling to reduce the debt.

Excerpt:

"...Yet we both believe that the statutory debt limit has outlived its usefulness as a mechanism for restraining the size of the national debt. Or, put more precisely, we think that whatever residual value the debt limit may have is far outweighed by the risk that a potential U.S. default poses to the global economic order..."

Image credit - CartoonStock

Taxing Asia's Digital Business

Another interesting article in the IMF Blog in August 2021. A 3-min read. Excerpt:

"Resolving these challenges pays off. Requiring nonresident suppliers of digital services and e‑commerce marketplaces to register with local tax authorities and remit value-added taxes on their sales could raise revenue between 0.04 and 0.11 percent of GDP in some countries in Asia, translating to an additional $166 million in Bangladesh, $4.8 billion in India, $1.1 billion in Indonesia, $365 million in the Philippines, and $264 million in Vietnam."

Image credit - The IMF Blog

Malaysia and the Fiscal Space

Managed the fiscal space while dealing with the pandemic. focus on the short-term recovery,  and long-term planning. Spend if you must, but keep the receipts. More jabs, more jobs. Full article here.

Image credit - REFSA

Fiscal Policy Response to the Pandemic

According to Romer: "...the reduction in “fiscal space” will discourage policymakers from tackling issues such as climate change, crumbling infrastructure, and persistent poverty..." Read the full article here.

Image credit - Atridim NewJournal - WordPress.com

Green Bonds. Blue Bonds. Brown Bonds.

Excerpt from the article:

"Record demand for sustainable finance is spurring this rainbow of debt types by governments and companies, to fund increasingly specific ways of mitigating climate change. While green bonds—which pledge their proceeds to finance wind farms or solar parks—are the dominant species, some of these labels have so far remained relatively niche."

Image credit - Climate Bonds Initiative

Top 10 Chinese Online Retailers in 2020

You can read the ranking here. Clothing, daily necessities, home appliances, and 3C (computer, consumer electronics, and communication) products are top products. Out of top 100 businesses, 93 of them are not e-commerce businesses.

The top 10 ranking are:

10. Wumart Supermarket

9. Dingdong Macai online platform packed vegetables

8. RT Mart

7. Haier Smart Home

6. Huitongda - Provider of an e-commerce platform serving rural areas in China

5. Xiomi

4.  Midea

3.  Vipshop -  operates the e-commerce website VIP.com (formerly Vipshop.com) specializing in online discount sales.

2.  Suning - the provision of internet retail services. It focuses on retail, finance, and logistics three business units

1.  JD - main source of revenue is the Online Retail business. The company also generates revenue through the advertising and logistic services it renders to third-party vendors on its marketplace.

Image credit - CIW China Internet Watch

A Modern Macrame of 13th Century Arabic

If you are looking for a new skill in craft, you can try macrame. Knots weaving. Beautiful wall decorations. Basic tutorial guide in the article here.  Enjoy great arts designed to your heart content.

p/s Listen to the song 'Reckless' by Madison Beer while weaving. Different kind of art in her MV.

Image credit - Collosal

A Malaysian Sculpture Illustrating a Climate Issue

An article by Gita Bhatt on the climate issue. She has a very interesting opening sentences and concludes the write-up mentioning how an innovative painting/sculpture by a Malaysian artist illustrates the climate issue. Poignant indeed!

Image credit - IMF Blog

Nor Tirjan Firdaus, Malaysia
Sculpture
For Sale: US$3,600 the Artling

The Rise and Fall of Pedestrian Malls

I am reading on how urban migration is an important contribution to increase or sustain domestic consumption in order to promote growth. I come across another article on pedestrian malls. At my university, we have the Student Mall under the Entrepreneurship program. However, we do have some problems attracting crowds. Maybe the tips from the article could help. You can read it here.

Image credit - History Colorado. Denver's 16th Street Mall, opened in 1982. I got married in Denver.

Your Smartphones and the Periodic Table of Elements

The demand for rare earth metals will increase in the future. Most of these rare earth elements used in the smartphone is in China. Find out which other countries are rich in these elements. You will be surprised!

Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-the-critical-metals-in-a-smartphone/

The Trillion Dollar Company - The Four Comma Club

Can you guess? The full story here.

1. Apple

2.  Microsoft

3. Saudi Aramco

4. Alphabet (Google)

5. Amazon

6. Facebook

Source - Iman Ghosh, Aug. 23, 2021

Image credit - Bokbluster.com

The Silver Economy

Just come across the term recently. I was reading on Idol Economics and its dark side and stumble upon how the luxury brand should focus on 'Silver Yuan.' Very interesting, especially for the ageing economies. You can refer to Jing Daily, European Commission and OECD policies for further information.

"The set of products and services that people will consume when they are old is called the silver economy." 

"The silver economy refers to an economic ecosystem that centres on an ageing population (those who are above the age of 60. The European Silver Economy starts with those over 50)."

Image credit - CKGSB

 

Merdekakah Jiwa Yang Gusar?

31 August is Malaysia's Independence Day. Sharing with you an article (in Malay) from Tinta Minda, Bernama, on how to free your mind.

Summary of the 7 tips to 'free your mind' from what's troubling you:

1. Make peace with the past.

2. Don't worry about what others think of you.

3. Time will heal your pain.

4. You are responsible for your happiness.

5. Don't compare yourself to others.

6. Don't think too much.

7. Keep Calm and Smile - just like the campaign :)

Image credit - Peter Merel -  'Free Your Laptop. Free Your Mind.'

Euphrates River Water Level

The Euphrates runs for almost 2,800 kilometres (1,700 miles) across Turkey, Syria and Iraq. You can read the story in this article:

"The olive trees are thirsty and the animals are hungry."

Image credit - CC via https://web.archive.org/we

Image credit - European Rivers Network

By the Lake Baikal

A Song by Li Jian. A poetic singer who married his childhood sweetheart. Graduated from a prestigious university in China - Tsinghua University. Majoring in Engineering.

I quoted the commentary of the song Lake Baikal below:

"With European instrumentals, Chinese lyrics, and content that’s geographically Russian in nature, the song could have ended up hodgepodge, but with Li’s simple, earthy, and uncontrived tenor, the result is haunting."

Credit - Youtube

Lake Baikal - image credit from History of Yesterday.

The Economics of Pottery

Two different articles. One is on clay  pottery and poverty. Another one is on best non-toxic cookware. 

Image credit - foodandwine.com

Image credit - cartoonstock

Giant Rice in China

A few months back, I uploaded a posting on China regarding the rice project. A few days ago, there are news on fields of giant rice with average height of 2 metres. More of the story here.

Image credit - via VCG

Image credit - via VCG

Soborno Isaac Bari - The Youngest Professor

Soborno Isaac Bari received the Global Child Prodigy Award in January 2020. He is a Bengali-Ameriacn child prodigy. Read the story here.

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” – Stephen Hawking.

Image credit - GCPA