New York Times (January 16)
“Intent on reversing America’s decline in the world’s production of cutting-edge semiconductors, the federal government has begun what is arguably the government’s largest foray into the private sector since World War II.” This “more muscular approach to industrial policy” is “pockmarked with risks. On balance, the record of government trying to improve the functioning of the private sector is poor, and particularly in complex sectors like semiconductors, the challenges are great.”
Tags: Complex, Cutting edge, Decline, Government, Industrial policy, Intent, Private-sector, Production, Reversing, Risks, Semiconductors, U.S., WWII
Investments & Pensions Europe (January Issue)
“Biodiversity is fast catching up with climate change as a priority for investors and supervisors, and developments last year have set the stage for a productive 2023…. Barely a topic of conversation in financial markets two years ago,” biodiversity now “has an investment ecosystem all of its own, which is being built on the back of a decade of lessons learnt in the climate finance space. From global agreements, supervisory interventions and standardised reporting guidelines through to data, investment products and a collaborative engagement initiative, the pieces are quickly falling into place to ensure the private sector knows what it’s meant to do to manage nature-related risks in 2023 and beyond.”
Tags: 2023, Biodiversity, Climate change, Collaborative engagement, Financial markets, Investment ecosystem, Investors, Nature-related risks, Priority, Private-sector, Reporting guidelines
Bloomberg (February 7)
“The coronavirus outbreak hasn’t sapped China’s animal spirits. The private sector-heavy ChiNext Index soared to 3-year high this week.” Seems absurd, but the “epidemic is giving policymakers the opportunity to correct past mistakes without looking silly…. At long last, Beijing can toss away its misguided war on shadow banking and design a smarter one that gives the private sector some room to breathe.”
Tags: Animal spirits, China, ChiNext, Coronavirus, Correct, Epidemic, Outbreak, Policymakers, Private-sector, Shadow banking
Wall Street Journal (January 3)
Not just one, but “two U.S. companies have landed a rocket safely after space flight.” This major breakthrough “could make space commuting for commerce and exploration a reality.” This “is also a sign of America’s continuing economic vitality.” The competition between two private sector companies “should lead to more rapid innovation, and the development of private U.S. rocketry will make the country less dependent on Russian rockets for various government or commercial purposes.”
Tags: Breakthrough, Commerce, Competition, Economic vitality, Exploration, Innovation, Private-sector, Rocket, Russia, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (April 13)
“We need to get used to slower Chinese growth,” writes former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. He adds that “if, as Beijing has promised, the slowdown is accompanied by deep and serious structural reform that opens up new growth opportunities, such as allowing the private sector to compete against state monopolies in service sectors like banking and telecommunications, then China will still grow robustly compared with all other major economies.”
Tags: Banking, Beijing, China, Competition, Growth, Monopolies, Paulson, Private-sector, Slowdown, Structural reform, Telecommunications
Financial Times (May 30)
“In France, when public servants cash in by taking private sector jobs, it is called pantouflage. In Japan, it is amakudari (“descent from heaven”); and, in the US, it is normal.” The revolving door between government and private sector jobs is a perplexing global issue that recently garnered attention in Britain when the head of tax collection became a consultant to Deloitte.
Tags: Amakudari, Britain, Deloitte, France, Government, Japan, Private-sector, Public servants
USA Today (October 9)
“California lawmakers are hoping to start a new trend: states managing retirement funds on behalf of private-sector workers.” Gov. Jerry Brown has already signed a law creating a fund to which employers would pay about 3% of each worker’s salary. While this might sound appealing, this is not a good solution. “Getting states into the business of running another kind of retirement fund, when they have done such a poor job with their existing ones, is a bad idea.”
Tags: Brown, California, Private-sector, Retirement funds
