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:

"In 2020, the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Center for Communication and Public Opinion Survey made it very clear that stress-induced sleep deprivation was a widespread problem. Almost seven out of 10 respondents disclosed that they were experiencing insomnia, and of those, 60 percent of them believed that a good night’s sleep was evading them because of the pandemic and social unrest, while the other 40 percent blamed work and school-based stress.

...

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

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.

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.

...

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

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

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

Soaring Metal Prices & A Net-Zero Emissions

A very timely article from the IMF Blog. Cause and Consequences.  Excerpt:

"The world’s historic pivot toward curbing carbon emissions is likely to spur unprecedented demand for some of the most crucial metals used to generate and store renewable energy in a net-zero emissions by 2050 scenario."

Source:  IMF Blog

Image credit - CartoonStock