California tends to get a lot of the attention in terms of rising gas prices. The state does have the highest prices in the Lower 48, now averaging $4.35 per gallon, up from $3.83 in mid-February. But over the last five or so …
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Curious CapitalistWorld Finance
Who Should Be the Next President of the World Bank?
Everyone is focused on the U.S. presidential elections this year, but there’s another presidential race that’s heating up – the race to be president of the World Bank. It’s a process that’s just as political, but much …
Why China Faces a Catch-22 on Financial Reform
Amid all of the aggressive market reform that has taken place in China over the past 30 years, the country’s financial and capital markets are a glaring exception. Capital controls restrict flows of money in and out of the …
Why China Should Slow Down – But Probably Won’t
China’s Premier Wen Jiabao sent a shockwave through the global economy this week when he lowered the country’s GDP growth target for 2012, to 7.5% from 8%. In doing so, Wen was not only recognizing the tremendous headwinds …
Why China Will Have an Economic Crisis
The view in most of the world is that China is indestructible. Shrugging off the crises multiplying elsewhere, China seems to surge from strength to strength, its spectacular growth marching on no matter what headwinds may come. …
Apple Fights for iPad Rights in Chinese Trademark Dispute
Apple’s escalating trademark dispute with a Chinese company over the rights to the term “iPad” reached a courtroom on Wednesday — and the result was a contentious four-hour hearing that was long on theatrics but short on …
Curious CapitalistEconomy & Policy
How Chinese Energy Politics Will Reshape the Middle East
China’s going to import a lot more oil from Iran and the Arab world over the next two decades. America will import far less. Those two facts will profoundly change the geopolitics of the Middle East.
Are China’s Big State Companies a Big Problem for the Global Economy?
The most important economic story of the first half of the 21st century is how China is changing the global economy. There are a lot of benefits to this change – hundreds of millions of new consumers to drive global growth, …
Apple Threatened with iPad Shipment Ban in China Trademark Fight
Apple’s trademark dispute with a Chinese firm over the term “iPad” is getting knottier by the day for the U.S. technology giant. Proview Technology, which says it owns the trademark for “iPad” in China, plans to ask Chinese …
The ‘Linsanity’ Effect: NY Knicks’ Guard Jeremy Lin’s Surprise Success Leads to Sold-Out Arenas, Jerseys
The phenomenon of undrafted Harvard grad and previous NBA benchwarmer Jeremy Lin is translating into serious money, as Knicks’ ticket prices soar and stores can’t keep up with demand for Lin jerseys and “Linsanity” merchandise.
How Global Economic Shifts Changed the Wine Industry — For Better and For Worse
The international wine market was a favorite subject for classical economists in the 18th and 19th centuries to help explain the benefits of free trade. Adam Smith advocated free trade in his opus, An Inquiry into the Nature and …
China State-Run Newspaper Praises Twitter’s New Censorship Policy
Twitter’s announcement last week that it could begin censoring tweets on a country-by-country basis drew criticism from many free-speech activists, including Reporters Without Borders, a global nonprofit group that advocates for …
