Wall Street Journal (December 6)
“Better productivity growth has helped the U.S. power past similar economies such as the European Union’s and Canada’s…. Over the past five years, quarterly year-over-year productivity growth has averaged 2.1%, a sharp improvement from growth over the 10 years prior.” This “critical development… has allowed for strong economic output and declining inflation, even as the labor market cools.”
Tags: 2.1%, Canada, declining inflation, Economic output, Economies, EU, Improvement, Labor market, Power, Productivity growth, Strong, U.S.
The Economist (March 12)
“Now after five decades, the end of Moore’s law is in sight.” This might not prove a bad thing as the quest for improvement will turn to more promising areas, such as the “deep learning” technology that recently beat Go legend Lee Sedol. “Huge performance gains can be achieved through new algorithms. Indeed, slowing progress in hardware will provide stronger incentives to develop cleverer software.”
Tags: Algorithms, Deep learning, Gains, Go, Hardware, Improvement, Moore’s Law, Performance, Progress, Promising, Software, Technology
New York Times (January 5)
“Suddenly, or so it seems, the U.S. economy is looking better. Things have been looking up for a while, but at this point the signs of improvement — job gains, rapidly growing G.D.P., rising public confidence — are unmistakable.”
Tags: Confidence, Economy, G.D.P., Growth, Improvement, Job gains, U.S.
The Economist (February 15, 2014)
“Rule changes have made activism easier and therefore more commonplace. Nor is it restricted to America: shareholder activism is gaining in popularity around the world, in places such as Japan and continental Europe, where it was once unknown.” While there are instances where activists cause damage in pursuit of short-term gains, “recent academic studies suggest that, by and large, activists are good for companies. An analysis of around 2,000 interventions in America during 1994-2007 found not only that the share prices and operating performance of the firms involved improved over the five years after the intervention, but also that the improvement was greatest towards the end of the five-year period.”
Tags: Activists, Europe, Improvement, Japan, Performance, Popularity, Rules, Share prices, Shareholders, Short-term gains
