Jean Pisany-Ferry, “The Great Macro Divergence”
(Project Syndicate, 30 November 2018)
A bit dry maybe, but this is a useful read to understand why all advanced economies are neither structurally nor cyclically aligned. As a consequence, they are unevenly vulnerable to recession, making international policy coordination both more necessary and more difficult. The main risks that could intensify the current slowdown: a more aggressive US monetary tightening; a further escalation of protectionism; a harder-than-expected economic landing in China; and a return of tensions in the Eurozone (reads in 5-7 min).
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Tim Wu, “Be Afraid of Economic ‘Bigness.’ Be Very Afraid”
(The New York Times – metered paywall, 10 November 2018)
The law professor who specializes in antitrust argues that the US presents today the features of a monopolized economy. He points to a direct link between economic concentration and the distortion of a democratic process and worries that the US (true for other countries as well) has chosen to tolerate global monopolies and oligopolies in finance, media, airlines, telecommunications, and elsewhere, to say nothing of the major technology platforms (reads in 6-8 min).
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David Ignatius, “The Khashoggi killing had roots in a cutthroat Saudi family feud”
(The Washington Post – paywall, 27 November 2018)
This reads like a detective story, and in many respects it is! David Ignatius (always remarkably informed) explains why Khashoggi’s killing was the consequence of a power struggle within the Saudi royal family that fed the paranoia and recklessness of Crown Prince MBS. After reading the article, it’s possible to imagine that MBS could drive the kingdom off a cliff (reads in 7-9 min).
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Alia Wong, “The Over-celebration of Life Events”
(The Atlantic, 30 November 2018)
This article focuses on the US, but the phenomenon of “celebratory creep” is becoming global, even though it’s less accentuated elsewhere. Gender reveals, post-wedding receptions, divorce parties, pets’ birthdays – young Americans now have more and more public festivities for milestones that used to be privately celebrated (or that were not celebrated). Businesses are seeing a need fuelled by social media, and they are of course meeting it (reads in 7-9 min).
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Lila McLellan, “The life-changing art of asking instead of telling”
(Quartz, 22 November 2018)
In a famous book (“Humble Inquiry: The Gentle Art of Asking and Not Telling”), a leading scholar of organizational psychology diagnosed two things that are missing from most conversations: (1) Curiosity, and (2) a willingness to ask questions to which we don’t already know the answer. Those of us able to make these two changes should expect friends and colleagues to be a bit bewildered by this new behavior! (reads in 5-6 min).
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