How capitalist really is China? More than we tend to think. To become a reality, the post-Covid productivity premium needs robust demand and ongoing adoption of technology. Loss of biodiversity and the climate threat to the planet are really two sides of the same coin. Changing our perception (which can alter our emotions) can yield new ideas in a way purely logical thinking never can. Changing our lifestyle can help conserve our cognitive capacity into old age.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The name of the game in China is scale” (Weijian Shan in the article of the week).
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Adi Ignatius – interview with Weijian Shan, “Americans Don’t Know How Capitalist China Is”
(Harvard Business Review, June 2021)
Weijian Shan, an author and the CEO of a private equity firm based in Hong Kong, redresses misconceptions that Westerners may have about China – they “don’t know how capitalist it is”. Despite the constant “demonization” of the country and the risk of decoupling, Western companies can’t ignore it. China’s private consumption represents only about 39% of its GDP (against a world average of 63%.), leaving much room for growth and many opportunities for investors. Among other things, this makes any shift in supply chains gradual and partial, and sometimes almost ‘impossible’ (reads in 7-8 min – metered paywall).
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James Manyika and Michael Spence, A Better Boom
(Foreign Affairs, July – August 2021)
This article (written by a Nobel laureate in economics and a strategy consultant) addresses the critical issue of how to capture the pandemic’s productivity potential. COVID temporarily paralyzed the global economy, but it also spurred businesses to rethink and accelerate technological and organizational innovation, meaning that a new era of productivity gains and prosperity could emerge out of the deepest economic crisis since WWII. This hinges on continued technology adoption by firms and the maintenance of robust demand (reads in about 10 min – registration may be required to access freely the article).
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Matt Simon, How to Protect Species and Save the Planet—at Once
(Wired, 18 June 2021)
A major new report published by 50 scientists from around the world calls on humanity to tackle the biodiversity and climate crises simultaneously. The reason for doing so is simple: skyrocketing global temperatures and plummeting biodiversity are compounding each other, making it impossible to treat each crisis in isolation. Nature-based solutions are the only way forward (reads in 7-8 min – metered paywall).
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Stuart Jeffries, Edward de Bono obituary
(The Guardian, 10 June 2021)
This is the obituary of Edward de Bono – the intellectual father of lateral thinking (a method which consists in employing unorthodox means to solve a problem). All his life, de Bono criticized vertical thinking (typified by logic), arguing that only lateral thinking can create new ideas. His key argument: “Studies have shown that 90% of error in thinking is due to error in perception. If you can change your perception, you can change your emotion and this can lead to new ideas. Logic will never change emotion or perception” (6-7 min – free access)
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Jane Brody, The Secrets of ‘Cognitive Super-Agers’
(The New York Times, 21 June 2021)
New research on centenarians brings hope that many people may become “cognitive super-agers” (those who approach the end of the human life span with brains that function as if they were 30 years younger). It would therefore be possible to develop strategies that ward off Alzheimer’s disease and slow brain aging for all of us. Not unsurprisingly, lifestyle factors that contribute to prolonging cognitive capacity include: (1) occupations that deal with complex facts and data; (2) a Mediterranean-style diet; (3) leisure activities and friendship; (4) physical exercise (reads in 6-7 min – metered paywall)
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