Stories about Economics & Business from January, 2008
Ukraine: Minimum Wage vs MPs’ Income
Ukrainiana compares Ukraine's nationwide minimum wage with MPs’ official salaries.
Serbia, Slovenia: Kosovo Independence
Dr. Filomena writes on Kosovo's independence and explains why she thinks Slovenia should not be the first to recognize it: “If for no other reason, then for the sake of...
Czech Republic, Serbia: Embassy Corruption
The Czech Daily Word writes on the corruption scandal at the Czech Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
Bangladesh: Islamic banking and jargon
a bengali in TO is rather annoyed with all the jargon that accompanies Islamic banking, and puts forward a list of questions on interest, incentive and money.
Trinidad and Tobago: Water woes
If Trinidad and Tobago is so good at pumping oil out of the ground, OpenDepth asks, why are water mains so often dry?
Kazakhstan: A Shadow Billionaire Spotlighted by Forbes
Lena B-Va cites the newly released Forbes report on the billionaires “you’ve never heard of” – including a Kazakhstani citizen.
China: Learning from Pornography Website
Dupola suggests that internet business should learn from pornography websites (zh) in terms of their market strategy, relation with the users, income sources and scale.
China: Internet Privacy
Vincent points out that many social networking sites have violated the protection of privacy. For example the fact that spokeo.com can track down hundreds of friends’ online activities via their...
Ukraine: Affordable Housing
Ukrainiana writes on what looks like a competition between Ukraine's PM and president in promising a better mortgage deal to the electorate.
Bangladesh: Democracy and Investment
Unheard Voices explores the link between levels of investment and democracy in Bangladesh.
Citizen Uganda: Smart and very, very pretty
Citizen Uganda is the best new online source of information about Uganda, and it's also very, very pretty. To scroll down the main page of Citizen Uganda is to indulge in a visual symphony: carefully selected photos align harmoniously with well-crafted blocks of text. Thick lines in complementary colors separate commentary from current events.
Louis Michel Heckled by Congolese Protestors at the London School of Economics
Le renouveau congolais posts a YouTube video which shows Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid and formerly Belgian's foreign minister, as he was confronted by Congolese protesters during a talk given earlier this month on the EU and Africa at the London School of Economics. Read the reactions from Congolese netizens and a video response that will make you move your feet.
Barbados, Bermuda, USA: Standing for Change
Cheese-on-bread! notices a similarity between the new Barbados government's campaign slogan and Barack Obama's – and hopes that the “rallying cry will work for him as well as it did...
Kazakhstan: A Hidden Billionaire
Lena B-Va quotes the newly released Forbes’ report on the non-public billionaires “you never heard of” – and a Kazakh citizen mentioned in the report.
Latvia: Law Firm's Name Change Attempt
Can you imagine a law firm with a name like this: “Viss mainījies skaļi klusēja migla virs pļavām aiz upes un jenotiņš to sajuta tik skaidri ka aizrāvās elpa un...
Ukraine: Tymoshenko's Ideologies
Ukrainiana is somewhat confused about Yulia Tymoshenko's position: “Here we go again, cruising the ideological avenues of the world: from solidarism to Thatcherism; from pondering membership in the Socialist International...
Dubai: Getting to Grips with Inflation
“I've been banging on about the effects of inflation on business, and the economy in general, for a while, so it's good to see that important people are now going...
Bahrain: Are Gulf Arabs Lazy?
Earlier this week the Bahraini Labour Minister Majid Al Alawi was interviewed in the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, and in the interview he said that the Gulf was facing an 'Asian tsunami' because Gulf nationals are 'lazy' and 'spoilt' and depend on imported labour to do even simple tasks. He said that that the nearly 17 million foreign workers in the Gulf, mostly Asian, represented 'a danger worse than the atomic bomb or an Israeli attack'. What do Bahraini bloggers think?
India: NRIs and Remittances
churmuri writes on the importance of NRIs given the size of remittances that flow into the country, as compared to the FDI inflows.
Tajikistan: Energy Crisis at the Boiling Point
Vadim says that Tajikistan is going to have more problems with electricity supply in the beginning of February.
D.R. of Congo: tough questions abound
Tough questions abound in the Democratic Republic of Congo as bloggers discuss, among other issues, the recent peace agreement in eastern Congo.
