News and Analysis: 2-6 Nov 09 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

Based in: Manila, Philippines

Posted on Fri, 6 Nov 09:

Honduras deal crumbles as Micheletti excludes Zelaya: Hopes of a power-sharing deal faded after interim leader Micheletti announced a new govt w/o the participation of ousted Pres Zelaya. Zelaya had warned that he would withdraw from the deal unless Congress held a vote on his restoration to power. But the interim authorities ignored the call, Radio France Intl, 6 Nov 09

Credit info firm releases sovereign risk report: In its latest report, a credit info specialist co. listed the world's 10 riskiest sovereign debt: Ukraine, Argentina, Venezuela, Latvia, Iceland, Lithuania, Dubai, Kazakhstan, Lebanon and Russia. The risk of default (or the 'cumulative probability of default'[cpd]) states the risk of a nation being unable to honor its debt obligations in the next 5 yrs. The data were taken from info on the market for credit default swaps, Credit Market Analysis, 1 Oct 09 (Updated list of nations | InvestorGuide-- Credit default swaps)

Posted on Thu, 5 Nov 09:

UN to pull non-essential staff from Afghanistan: The UN is to evacuate its non-essential foreign staff from the nation after a deadly Taliban attack on a guesthouse for UN workers. Around 600 foreign staff will be temporarily relocated. Almost all will leave the nation immediately although a small no. could be relocated internally. The UN has around 5,600 staff there, mostly Afghans, and the relocations will affect around 12% of its mission, Ag. France-Presse (courtesy ReliefWeb), 5 Nov 09

G Akerlof and J Stiglitz: Let a hundred theories bloom--For the past 3 decades, one strand w/in the economics profession was constructing models that assumed that markets worked perfectly. This assumption overshadowed a wide body of research that helped explain why markets often work imperfectly - why, indeed, there are widespread market failures, say 2 Nobel Laureates '01, Proj Syndicate (courtesy Gulf Times/ Qatar, 26 Oct 09 (INET--Innovative thinkers join forces to meet challenges of global econ crisis | American Spectator-- Killing capitalism Soros-style)

Posted on Wed, 4 Nov 09:

China's domestic demand helps fuel East Asia's resurgence but some nations still struggling, 2 new reports say: The economic rebound in East Asia/Pacific has been surprisingly swift and very welcome, but take China out of the equation and the regional picture is less rosy, say the latest twice-yearly East Asia/Pacific Update and the latest China Quarterly Update, World Bank, 3-4 Nov 09

Al Gore: The plan that saved the planet--Not too many yrs from now, a new generation will look back at us in this hr of choosing and ask one of 2 questions. Either they will ask, "What were you thinking? Didn't you see the entire North Polar ice cap melting before your eyes? Did you not care?" Or they will ask instead, "How did you find the moral courage to rise up and solve a crisis so many said was impossible to solve?", notes Nobel Laureate '08 and fmr Vice-Pres in a new book out on 3 Nov, Newsweek, 31 Oct 09 (Our Choice)

S Levitt and S Dubner: What do Al Gore and Mt Pinatubo have in common?--One of the unlikeliest 'positive externalities' on record came cloaked in a natural disaster. On 15 June 91, Mt Pinatubo erupted for 9 furious hrs. The most powerful volcanic eruption in nearly 100 yrs discharged more than 20 mln tons of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere. As it turned out, the stratospheric haze of sulfur dioxide acted like a layer of sunscreen, reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth. For the next 2 yrs, the earth cooled off by an average of nearly 1 degree F, or 0.5 degrees C. A single volcanic eruption practically reversed, albeit temporarily, the cumulative global warming of the previous 100 yrs, SuperFreakonomics, Oct '09 (More excerpt)

Posted on Tue, 3 Nov 09:

Coffers: A whole new world for emerging markets--The Morgan Stanley Capital Intl (MSCI) Emerging Markets index climbed 7.2% in the yr since Lehman Bros. declared bankruptcy on 15 Sep 08. In comparison, the Russell 3000 index was down 11.7% and the MSCI World index, which tracks stocks in developed markets, was down 9.6% during the same period, Pensions & Investments, 2 Nov 09

Book value: Ahamed's Lords of Finance wins biz book of the year award--Liaquat Ahamed won the biz book of the yr award for 'Lords of Finance: 1929, The Great Depression, and the Bankers Who Broke the World'. He saw off strong competition from 5 runners-up to win the £30,000 prize. The award, which was established in '05, aims to find the bk that provides 'the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern biz issues', Financial Times-Goldman Sachs, 29 Oct 09 (Biz Standard/India--Lunch with Ahamed)

Laura D'Andrea Tyson: Think US high tech isn't healthy? Look at the data--Is the US killing its innovation machine?: Some say that the US is in the process of losing the ability to manufacture many cutting-edge products because of the outsourcing of development and manufacturing work abroad. This is a disturbing hypothesis backed up by anecdotal data about a variety of high-tech products that can no longer be manufactured in the US, notes fmr Coun Econ Adv chair and London Biz School dean, HBR (Harvard Biz Rev) Debate, 16 Oct 09

Posted on Mon, 2 Nov 09:

Ban Ki-moon pledges to stand by next Afghan govt: UN Sec-Gen Ban today pledged to stand by the next Afghan govt as Afghanistan's western backers pushed for a swift coronation of Hamid Karzai as pres following the decision by his closest challenger to withdraw from the runoff vote, Guardian/UK, 2 Nov 09

Bill Gates calls for new green revolution in agric: More than 50 yrs ago, US philanthropy funded the 1st 'Green Revolution' to grow more food for the world, but with a billion people going hungry today, the job is hardly complete. Now the world's richest philanthropist is backing a new green revolution, and telling the world it should be 'greener than the first', Seattle Times, 15 Oct 09 (World Food Prize and the Borlaug Dialogue | The World Today--Putting food on plates | Chatham House--Food Security conference)

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