In China, 1/2 liter of beer costs 9 minutes of work. To calculate how many minutes of work it takes to buy beer in 150 countries, Swiss bank UBS researchers divided the median wage in that country by …
India's Car Horns
Standing near a busy intersection in Calcutta, you would hear a horn honk every 3 seconds. Or, as one Audi India executive explained, “With the amount of honking in Mumbai, we do on a daily basi…
More Recyling Matters
Aluminum recycling is in the news because of a break-up. Together, Alcoa and Novelis (owned by HindalCo, an Indian firm) had been collecting and recycling cans–40 billion last year. But no more.…
A Pollution Tale With 2 Happy Endings
Sometimes green incentives can have unintended consequences. Our story begins in an airport. About to board a flight, an environmentally concerned individual purchases “carbon offsets.” Y…
Election Economics: Assessing Outsourcing
Until November 6, at econlife, Mondays will be about presidential election economics. In 2004, when President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers chairman, Harvard professor Greg Mankiw, was lam…
Indian Cola Wars
In the Indian Cola market, Coke is #3, Pepsi is #2 and Thums Up is #1. Thums Up? More orangy and fizzy than Coke, Thums Up was created by local businessmen when Coke left India in 1977. Coke exited w…
What If More People Wore Eyeglasses?
We could say that eyeglasses are like bookends when they relate to economic growth. Our story starts during the 13th century. Before the spread of eyeglasses, the work life of skilled craftsmen usuall…
Cars and the Middle Class in Developing Nations
What does it mean to be middle class? For a developing nation like China, income might be the key. If someone earns between $10 and $50 a day, then that person is middle class. Or perhaps you just nee…
(Mc)Wages Around the World
It can be tough to compare wages around the world. While lots of people could be called iPhone assemblers or auto workers or t-shirt makers, depending on the country, factory conditions, time off, the…
Tea Leaves…Then Returns
The Indian economy is slowing down. Maybe it’s all about the ease of doing business. Ranked #132 out of 183 countries in the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business Index,” India …