Global Economy - Chart Porn

Data compiled by Angus Maddison, an economist who died earlier this year, suggest that China and India were the biggest economies in the world for almost all of the past 2000 years. Why they fell so far behind may be more of a mystery than why they are currently flourishing.

(ps – the comments at the Economist are worth the read)

No Comments

Recession Recovery Map

In: Global Economy Interactive Maps

16 Aug 2010

From the Guardian, as of August 13th.

(1) Comment

England’s Poor GDP Projections

In: Global Economy Interactive

11 Aug 2010

Animated timeline of BOE’s fan projections. I think they should have included some “shadow” of the earlier projections to illustrate just how far off they were. A longer time frame would have been nice to show whether they were as inaccurate during non-recession periods.

(1) Comment

The Breakfast Index

In: Food Global Economy Source: Economist

5 Aug 2010

Commodity prices are on the rise again. The Economist picked a pretty recent base year for this graph of wheat, orange juice, and coffee prices – a longer trend would have shown the big ups and downs of the past few years.

(1) Comment

Reforming the Global Financial System

In: Finance Global Economy Interactive Maps Politics Source: FT

28 Jul 2010

From Dodd-Frank to Basel III, this graphic explains the current plans for global financial regulatory reform in advanced economies, from the US to the eurozone.

(note: some FT items require a subscription – you can view up to 10 articles a month for free)

No Comments

Map: European Bank Stress Tests

In: Finance Global Economy Interactive Maps

26 Jul 2010

This is kind of a silly map considering only 7 of 91 banks failed. Related article.

(3) Comments

Demographics (1950-2050)

In: Culture Global Economy History Interactive Science

25 Jul 2010

A very smooth interactive that allows you to compare the population composition of 8 countries over time. You can see some interesting trends by playing with the timeline control at the bottom — like watching the baby boom bulge move through the USA population then disappear, or the holes left in european age groups by WWII.

No Comments

The Big Mac Index

In: Food Global Economy Source: Economist

25 Jul 2010

Asia remains the cheapest place to enjoy a burger. China’s recent decision to increase the “flexibility” of the yuan has not made much difference yet. A Big Mac costs $1.95 in China at current exchange rates, against $3.73 in America. […] In other words the yuan is undervalued by 48%.

(1) Comment

Global Tidal Wave of Debt

In: Finance Global Economy Source: Washington Post

14 Jul 2010

Update: Moody’s Global Recovery Map

In: Global Economy Maps

12 Jul 2010

I gave this map a bit of grief when I first posted about it, so it’s only fair that I point out that they now appear to be keeping it up to date, and annotating the analysis better.