Silicon Valley no longer has the monopoly on high growth sectors. Exponentials work both ways: exponential (virus) decay could be faster than we initially dared to hope. Current demand trends are good for wood. “Legal but potentially lethal” describes the processed food concoctions we are ‘taught’ to crave. Workers’ wellbeing, productivity, office life, home life: getting the right balance is a juggling act.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The start-up “unicorns” once associated with Silicon Valley and a few other high-tech hubs can now be found in growing numbers across a wide range of developed and middle-income countries. In short, the systems that unleash entrepreneurial talent are increasingly taking root around the world”. (Michael Spence)
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Michael Spence, High Growth Sectors in the Post-Recovery Decade
(Project Syndicate, 29 April 2021)
Thanks to the combination of increased availability of powerful new technologies and aggressive fiscal policies, the economist foresees a cascading sequence of rapid global recoveries. In his opinion, the post-pandemic economy could be characterized by the return of robust aggregate productivity growth after 15 years of relative sclerosis. The broad sectors with the greatest growth potential: (1) the application of digital technologies across the entire economy, (2) biomedical science, and (3) technologies that address the various challenges to sustainability, especially climate change (reads in 7-8 min).
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Zoë McLaren, The Math That Explains the End of the Pandemic
(The New York Times, 29 April 2021)
COVID cases decline via the principle of exponential decay. This notion (the opposite of exponential growth) helps understand why the epidemic in countries that have started vaccinating but which are still a long way from reaching herd immunity could nonetheless improve rapidly. The end of the pandemic might look like this: a steep drop in cases followed by a longer period of low numbers of cases, though cases will rise again if people ease up on precautions too soon. Put simply: in some countries like the US, the worst of the pandemic may be over sooner than we think (reads in 6-7 min).
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Robinson Meyer, Why Dead Trees Are ‘the Hottest Commodity on the Planet’
(The Atlantic, 27 April 2021)
Until a little while ago, very few would have thought that lumber would become such a ‘hot’ commodity. Yes it’s happening and it’s likely to endure because the story is not simply about record-breaking demand, but also about dwindling supply and a major environmental transition. Commodity economists attribute this phenomenon to the three ‘Ds’: DIY (spurred by the pandemic), demand and demography. The article is northern-America focused but conclusions apply everywhere (reads in 7-9 min).
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Dave Davies, Cheap, Legal And Everywhere: How Food Companies Get Us ‘Hooked’ On Junk
(NPR, 26 April 2021)
This is an interview with Michael Moss about his latest book: “Hooked”. The Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter claims that processed food is engineered to be “craveable,” not unlike a cigarette or a hit of cocaine. He observes that processed food is inexpensive, legal, and everywhere. And the advertising from the companies is cueing us to remember those products that we want constantly – memory and nostalgia play a big role in craving (reads in 4-5 min).
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Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Lessons From COVID About Work and Well-Being
(Psychology Today, 8 April 2021)
The Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre at Oxford University shares a few insights on what research suggests about remote work and employee happiness going forward. In particular: (1) Most CEOs acknowledge that employee well-being can give their company a competitive advantage, but few make it a strategic priority; (2) The adoption of remote working offers employees more flexibility but hampers a sense of belonging and inclusion; (3) Employers must strike a balance between office life and working from home to increase employee wellbeing (reads in 4-5 min).
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