In: Culture| Politics| Source: Economist
9 Mar 2010In: Graphic Design (general)| Maps| Politics| Source: Economist
1 Mar 2010The Economist produces quality audio annotated presentations on a number of topics. Here are a few recent ones:
Asia’s Growing Economic Power (a historical perspective)
In: Bailout| Finance| Source: Economist| Stock Market| US Economy
25 Feb 2010Official retirement ages have failed to keep pace with rising life expectancy, making pensions increasingly unaffordable. In practice many people in the rich-world OECD countries retire several years early, which lets them enjoy, on average, some 19 years in retirement before death.
Based on Freedom House’s 2010 survey.
THE Big Mac index is based on the theory of purchasing-power parity (PPP)-exchange rates should equalise the price of a basket of goods in different countries. The exchange rate that leaves a Big Mac costing the same in dollars everywhere is our fair-value benchmark. So our light-hearted index shows which countries the foreign-exchange market has blessed with a cheap currency, and which has it burdened with a dear one.
A RECORD number of drug patents will expire over the next few years, which should heighten competition from generic drugs and force down prices. In 2009, $26 billion of sales were at risk from patent expiries. This will nearly double in 2011 according to EvaluatePharma, a consultancy. The price of any given drug falls by more than 85% within a year of a patent expiring in markets like America. About 13% of global drug sales are at risk from generic competition over the next two years.
NEXT year China will overtake Japan to become the world’s second-largest economy. Its rapid ascent has led some to question whether China will follow in Japan’s footsteps, with the bursting of a massive bubble followed by years of decline. But China is still far poorer than Japan was at its peak, and thus has more room to improve productivity.
A collection of interesting charts, tables, maps, and interactive data toys -- with a focus on economics and graphic design. Enormous thanks to the bloggers who help find all this stuff, and the wonderful researchers, analysts, and graphic artists who create them.