· March, 2010

Stories about Economics & Business from March, 2010

Trinidad & Tobago: On Corruption

  31 March 2010

“On the day the Uff Report was submitted to a happy looking President, the Prime Minister suddenly realized the people needed more hospitals and Summits”: This Beach Called Life takes a tongue-in-cheek look at Trinidad and Tobago's political landscape.

Bermuda: Overspending

  31 March 2010

“It’s so simple that only a politician could miss it”: Vexed Bermoothes says that the Bermudian government must reduce its budget.

Indonesia: Sony vs Sony

  31 March 2010

Sony Arianto Kurniawan from Indonesia has a personal website which displeased Sony Corporation because the latter claims it has legal ownership over the trademark Sony. Sony the corporation initially charged Sony the person in the court but dropped the charges later.

Chile: The Process of Earthquake Reconstruction

  30 March 2010

Exactly a month after the devastating earthquake in Chile, President Sebastián Piñera announced a reconstruction plan for the country’s infrastructure and housing, prompting Chileans to provide opinions about how this process should be implemented and monitored.

Bangladesh: Aktel Becomes Robi

  30 March 2010

Aktel, one of the leading cell phone service providers in Bangladesh, has renamed its brand as Robi in an attempt to ‘localise’ its branding. Bangladesh Corporate Blog analyzes consumer reactions through netizens’ eyes.

Jamaica: Responding to HIV

  29 March 2010

Repeating Islands reports that with funding support from the World Bank, the Jamaican government “aims to curb the spread of HIV, improve treatment, care and support for persons living with HIV/AIDS, and strengthen Jamaica’s capacity to respond to the epidemic.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Food Prices

  29 March 2010

“The basket of items you bought in the grocery in Jan 2010 is just over three times the price of the same basket bought in Jan 2003…Is your salary today three times what you earned in Jan 2003? If not, then, at least for food, you're not winning”: KnowTnT.com looks...

Tajikistan: Bargaining over dams and shipments

  29 March 2010

Tajik and Uzbek officials traded barbs during the security conference in Dushanbe. The argument concerned freight train shipments for Tajikistan that have been stalled on Uzbek territory, but as neweurasia’s Dushanbe explains, the real reason is the Roghun dam project.

Japan Government: On the Fall of the Employment System

  28 March 2010

A think tank for Japan's Cabinet, the Economic and Social Research Institute (内閣府 経済社会総合研究所) (ESRI) published a study that quantified the present status of lifetime employment and seniority-based wage (i.e. the Japanese employment system). They used the data (1989-2008) from Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) (BSWS) of the Ministry of...

Ukraine: Fire Destroys 20% of Hosting.ua Servers

RuNet Echo  28 March 2010

Some 20% of the servers at Odessa-based Hosting.ua data center – one of the biggest in Ukraine – are reported to have been destroyed in a fire on March 27. UkrainianWatcher writes (UKR) that “tens of thousands of Ukrainian and a number of Russian sites are currently offline” and re-posts...

Trinidad & Tobago: Money Done

  25 March 2010

“I yawned last night when the news on all local TV stations reported that the police, famous for being loyal to our incorruptible leader, raided UDeCOTT offices, Sunway International’s offices and the home of Calder Hart, possibly looking for remnants of The Treasury”: This Beach Called Life says that Trinidad...

Fashionalism in the Philippines

  25 March 2010

Andang Juan blogs on “fashionalism,” a term invented by a Filipino fashion designer from the words “fashion” and “nationalism,” as a means by which capitalists translate the abstract concept of nationalism into the logic of consumerism and profit.