Wednesday, December 1, 2021
The King's Salad
Monday, November 29, 2021
The Napping Bus
There is no limit to people's creativity in doing business. However, if the idea originates from the drive to make life better, the result is heart-warming.
Excerpt:
...
Frankie Chow, the founder of Ulu Travel Agency, is providing a solution for the stressed out and sleep-deprived: a five-hour bus route designed especially for passengers to sleep. “The motion of buses resembles a mother swaying a baby in her arms. It is very comfortable,” he reasons. “I have loved taking the bus since I was young, and I love sleeping on the bus.”
Full story here.
Image credit - Internet
Saturday, November 27, 2021
Creative Destruction
Please read Elaine Schwartz's article on how vinyl records regained its popularity recently. More interesting articles from her Blog Econlife. Reason? The quality.
Excerpt from Elaine's article:
"As economist Joseph Schumpeter (1883-1950) explained, entrepreneurs create jobs, progress, and productivity. They change consumer habits, design new means of production, and develop new forms of economic organization. But they also create the pain connected with the demise of old industries as new products and processes replace what had existed."
Here is the list for Top 100 Economics Blogs of 2022. Take your pick.
Image credit - Econlife Blog.Watch the animated chart.
Thursday, November 25, 2021
Inflation Makes a Comeback
Excerpt:
"Inflationary pressures should be temporary and medium-term inflation will likely revert to central bank targets. But there is a lot of uncertainty. The shock from the pandemic is unique and its impact on commodity prices, supply bottlenecks, and rising shipping costs is hard to pin down.
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Managing expectations, through statements or rate hikes, is a key factor in heading off an inflationary spiral, which is why central banks in the region are moving fast to preserve their hard-won credibility in an uncertain environment..."
Read the full article here.
Image credit - IMF Blog
Image credit - IMF Blog
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Catching Up & Falling Behind
Recently, I am tasked to do a catching-up simulation exercises. Come across these two interesting articles. You can read them here. There is an article from The Economist as well, describing the catching of developing countries as 'a mixed-up slow down.'
Image credit - The Economist
Monday, November 22, 2021
Sukuk and Social Impact Bond (SIB)
Latest article from the Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) Blog. Excerpt below:
"Social Impact Bonds (SIB) are one of the most common instruments under the RBF approach. In the last decade, the use of SIB has been increasing and more studies have been conducted to assess the different experiences of using these instruments in developed as well as developing countries (Fichera & al. 2021, Gungadurdoss, 2021, Lopez Taylor and Bode (2021), https://golab.bsg.ox.ac.uk/the-basics/impact-bonds/). SIB involve investors, especially from the private sector, who are interested in achieving a double dividend by contributing to measurable positive social, economic or environmental objectives and at the same time earning returns on the invested funds (Broccardo & al. 2019). The government represents the outcome payer for these services. However, what differentiates SIB from conventional contracts is the fact that this payment is contingent upon the materialization of the pre-defined outcomes that the government wants to achieve."
Basic Social Impact Bond (SIB) Structure
Image credit - IsDBI Blog
CORE - A New Economics Curriculum
Excerpt from the Article:
"In a sense, the critics of Samuelson’s textbook were right: an introductory economics curriculum has high political stakes. Samuelson was hardly a communist, but it was certainly true that he wanted to influence American politics. “I don’t care who writes a nation’s laws—or crafts its advanced treaties—if I can write its economics textbooks,” he wrote, in 1990. “The first lick is the privileged one, impinging on the beginner’s tabula rasa at its most impressionable state.”
The article did not mention Islamic Economics. CORE adopters should read Iqtisaduna.
Learn a new vocabulary today: tabula rasa.
Source: Pinterest
Ancient Method of Water Filter
I was looking for water filters due to the recent situation. Come across the following Zen Garden Oasis youtube (21 min). It is super helpfu...
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In Tinta Minda, BERNAMA. Malay article. Excerpt: "Laporan prestasi ekonomi negara pada suku ketiga pada 2020 yang diumumkan Bank Negara...
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How are you going to contribute to the nations in terms of closing the wealth inequality gap?
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Please read the article by Paul Krugman in the New York Times at the link given below and give your comments as what Malaysia had experience...

