Better aligning value with values could ‘correct’ capitalism. How we all (and the US in particular) lost Afghanistan. Global FDI will pick up but could be more of a trickle than a flow well into 2022. Who will control our data? Carefully deployed blockchain technology could tip the balance in favour of the individual. Picking up on another of our ‘sixth’ senses, Interoception (inter organ-brain messaging), could unlock wellbeing potential.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“We have gone from being market economies to becoming market societies, in which the price of everything is the value of everything” (Mark Carney in the article of the week)
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Martin Sandbu, Where did capitalism go wrong?
(Prospect Magazine, August-September 2021)
This is a review of Mark Carney’s book (“Value(s)”) and what it says about what’s wrong with today’s capitalism and what could be done about it. According to the former governor of the Bank of England and banker at Goldman Sachs, “value,” or economic performance, is intimately linked to “values,” or moral standards. Therefore, focusing exclusively on monetary value may undermine collective values, so we must bring “value” and “values” closer together (free access – read in 7-9 min).
Click here to read the full article
Michael McKinley, We All Lost Afghanistan
(Foreign Affairs, 16 August 2021)
A clear-headed, US-centric (the author was until a few years ago US Ambassador in Afghanistan) account of the reasons behind the recent, harrowing, debacle. The diplomat attributes it to “two decades of mistakes, misjudgements, and collective failure” and fundamentally to the US misreading a fragmented Afghan political reality. However, “the blame for this terrible tragedy cannot be laid at any one door” (paywall possible – reads in 7-9 min).
Click here to read the full article
James Zhan, Global FDI prospects for 2021–2022
(FDI Intelligence, 10 August 2021)
The senior director of the Investment and Enterprise division at Unctad recognizes that global FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) prospects are highly uncertain, but remains cautiously optimistic about prospects in 2021, and more optimistic for 2022. According to his projections, flows will bottom out this year, with a modest increase of up to 15%, regaining part of the 35% lost in 2020. Global FDI is likely to increase further by 20–30% in 2022. Read on for a more granular understanding of FDI prospects and about the major factors that will impact them (free access – reads in 6-7 min).
Click here to read the full article
Satoru Hori, Self-sovereign identity: the future of personal data ownership?
(World Economic Forum, 12 August 2021)
This is a looming issue, and despite the potential for online identities to unlock vast amounts of economic value, major concerns remain around privacy issues. At the moment, the two main types of digital identity – centralized and federated – place data control in the hands of service providers. In the future, self-sovereign identity could take back this control by using blockchain technology. However, to succeed, it needs a solid governance framework (free access – reads in about 5 min).
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David Robson, Interoception: the hidden sense that shapes wellbeing
(The Guardian, 15 August 2021)
Interoception – or the attention paid to the signals sent from our internal organs to the brain – seems to be one of our most important senses. It lies behind our sense of intuition – when something feels “right” or “wrong” without an explanation – but there’s growing scientific evidence that it plays a major role in regulating emotions and fending off anxiety and depression, making it one of the fastest moving areas in neuroscience and psychology.
Most intriguingly, the new awareness of interoception can help us to understand why certain sorts of physical exercise can be so good for our mental health. In a nutshell: by paying a little bit more attention to the signals interoception sends us, we may be healthier in our body and our mind (free access – reads in 6-7 min).
Click here to read the full article
