Are the BRICS ready to lead?

His guess? "No, not yet". He points out the BRICS are dominated by one country, China, that is still dependent on foreign demand for its economic strength rather than on its domestic resources.

Chinese savings rate & the gender balance

Tea leaves

If this is not merely a temporary effect of the stimulus but the start of a long-term shift of industrial production away from China's coast it would not be a surprise to find that it was oriented more strongly toward supplying domestic demand than export markets. Transport and handling costs, for example, would make domestic markets…

Elaborating the Ag. travesty

According to a report* from ITCSD, developing countries and the EU want to further slow the pace of change where opening markets for products such as sugar, cut flowers, vegetable oils, fruits and juices might threaten some highly profitable deals between of a small group of EU importers and developing country exporters. So much for the…

U.S. looks for a ‘critical mass’ climate deal

What is new is that the so-called BASIC countries—giant, rapidly growing but poor economies—have become the necessary interlocutors of the USA and, perforce, for Europe, Japan and the rest of the twenty-something countries that have committed to sign the 'pledge' on emissions cuts by 31 January this year.