Social Business

June 24, 2017June 24, 2017
by bloom
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Foreign investors snap up London’s iconic buildings July 27, 2017
LONDON’S skyline has altered a lot in the last 30 years. While it can’t match Manhattan or Chicago, there are quite a few trophy buildings that can be seen from this columnist’s office window (for the moment*). The British sense of humour means these offices often acquire their own nicknames, regardless of the developer’s intentions—the […]
Can data predict fashion trends? July 27, 2017
World of wardrobeIN THE film “The Devil Wears Prada”, the character of Miranda Priestly, whose role is based on a feared Vogue editor, scolds her new assistant for not understanding fashion. Fashion, she tells her, is whatever a select group of designers and critics says it is. What she does not say, however, is that […]
Making Bitcoin work better July 27, 2017
IN DIFFERENT circumstances the two people could be good friends. Each is rather shy and very smart. And each is passionate about bitcoin, a digital currency. One invented hashcash, which foreshadowed components of the crypto-currency; the other is the author of the first Chinese translation of the white paper in which Satoshi Nakamoto, the elusive […]
Tech stocks have regained their dotcom-era highs July 27, 2017
CAST your mind back to when Bill Clinton was president, Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin were fresh-faced new leaders and tweeting was strictly for the birds. That was when technology stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 tech index, last traded at their current levels.The horrendous decline in share prices that followed the peak in […]
The closing of American bank branches July 27, 2017
WINDSOR, a community of 6,200 people two hours outside Albany in New York state, offers many of the amenities commonly found in a small town, including a bakery, a car-repair outfit and several restaurants. There is just one thing missing: a bank. The town’s only financial institution, First Niagara Bank, shut its doors in October.Towns […]
The link between poor harvests and violence July 27, 2017
The very dark agesLAST year over 102,000 people died in nearly 50 armed conflicts across the world, according to the Peace Research Institute Oslo, a think-tank. Much of this violence is caused by tensions between ethnic groups—two-thirds of civil wars have been fought along ethnic lines since 1946. Yet historians differ over whether cultural differences […]
A bad week for Germany’s carmakers July 27, 2017
STRENGTH and reliability were once the watchwords of Germany’s carmakers. Tardiness and scheming seem more apt terms now. Nearly two years after Volkswagen (VW) was caught rigging emissions tests, the difficulties continue to pile up. Europe is turning against diesel, and even petrol. And German firms are facing accusations of collusive behaviour, including claims of […]
The world’s largest online-travel company July 27, 2017
NOT since the dotcom boom at the turn of the century have technology shares been on such a tear. On July 19th the S&P 500 index of information-technology stocks hit a record high, closing above its previous peak in March 2000 (see Buttonwood). As titans like Google, Facebook and Amazon hog the limelight, other firms […]
Pandemic bonds, a new idea July 27, 2017
Better coverage neededWHEN the Ebola virus hit west Africa in 2014, it took months to get together the money needed to combat the outbreak. Donors ended up committing more than $7bn. But the money came too late and too inefficiently, says Tim Evans, who directs the World Bank’s global health practice. Lives that could have […]
The wage gap between men and women varies depending on job types July 27, 2017
IT HAS been a turbulent few days for the BBC, Britain’s public broadcaster. On July 19th it published the names of those to whom it pays £150,000 ($195,000) or more a year. The ensuing furore was less over the level of pay, but the differences between men and women. Some female presenters discovered that they […]
Foreign executives need to get their feet dirty to succeed in Africa July 27, 2017
NAIROBI, Kenya’s capital, is also known as the “Green City in the Sun”. It might as well be called the city of malls: it has never had such a wide choice. The newest outlet, named Two Rivers, sits on a road near the American embassy and contains no less than three different malls in the […]
Thanks to streaming services, China’s consumers have begun paying for music July 25, 2017
HONEST souls intent on paying full whack for the music they listen to used to have a hard time in China. In the era of compact discs, rare was the shop which did not sell counterfeits. The same held true when discs turned into downloads and online streams of songs: hardly any service charged money.Slowly […]

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