Washington Post (June 25)
“Governments around the world are scrambling for ways, often at great fiscal cost, to slow or even reverse their baby busts. From cash incentives to paid leave, the results have been disappointing.” They would do better to quit fighting and focus on adaptation. After 17 years of population decline, Japan “now offers a surprisingly hopeful counter that an aging economy can still offer growth and prosperity.” Recent analysis by Goldman Sachs found that in Japan “the demographic decline that once drained vitality is now creating a ‘virtuous cycle’ of tightening labor markets, increased worker bargaining power and more investment in productivity-enhancing tech. These trends are helping prop up the economy even as it weathers a shock from the U.S.-led trade war.”
Tags: Adaptation, Aging economy, Baby busts, Cash incentives, Cost, Demographic decline, Goldman Sachs, Governments, Growth, Investment, Labor markets, Paid leave, Population, Prosperity, Reverse, Scrambling, Tech, Virtuous cycle
WARC (January 4)
“Quite simply, most advertisers just aren’t ready for the world that comes next.” Google has begun its six-month phase out of tracking cookies. “Nearly three-quarters (73%) of UK marketers are not well prepared for the withdrawal of third-party cookies, while a majority (58%) of global marketing leaders lack a working understanding of how changing privacy regulations will affect their work.” Google’s move “will fire the starting gun on a deep process of adaptation across the online ecosystem.”
Tags: Adaptation, Advertisers, Google, Marketers, Online ecosystem, Prepared, Privacy regulations, Process, Tracking cookies, UK, Withdrawal
LA Times (December 22)
“At the latest round of international climate talks this month in Lima, Peru, melting glaciers in the Andes and recent droughts provided a fitting backdrop for the negotiators’ recognition that it is too late to prevent climate change…. They now confront an issue that many had hoped to avoid: adaptation.”
Tags: Adaptation, Andes, Climate change, Climate talks, Droughts, Glaciers, Lima, Negotiators, Peru, Prevention
Wall Street Journal (December 12)
Our obsession with cutting carbon emissions overlooks the “negligible impact” any deal would have on climate. “Even if we were to cut emissions by 50% below 1990-levels by 2050—an extremely unrealistic scenario—the difference in temperature would be less than 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit in 2050.” Our main focus should instead be on “adaptation and economic growth to improve resilience,” especially in developing countries which will get hit hardest by the impact of climate change.
Our obsession with cutting carbon emissions overlooks the “negligible impact” any deal would have on climate. “Even if we were to cut emissions by 50% below 1990-levels by 2050—an extremely unrealistic scenario—the difference in temperature would be less than 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit in 2050.” Our main focus should instead be on “adaptation and economic growth to improve resilience,” especially in developing countries which will get hit hardest by the impact of climate change.
