Corona Capital: Disney movie magic, “Call of Duty” 5 Aug 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: The Magic Kingdom’s decision to send “Mulan” straight to streaming impressed investors, but is bad news for cinema chains; Activision Blizzard’s shoot-‘em-up game brings a profit surge.
Lebanon blast lays bare cost of a weak state 5 Aug 2020 The devastation in Beirut adds to the political, financial and economic troubles that beset the country. Long-standing governance shortcomings make such tragedies more likely and recovery more difficult. Too many countries share Lebanon’s inability to deal with added catastrophe.
Mumbai’s slums test lockdown logic 30 Jul 2020 Nearly 60% of people in densely packed areas have had Covid-19, a study found, suggesting a low fatality rate. About 40% of the Indian financial capital's residents live in similar settings. The city’s strict shutdown may now be impoverishing more than protecting the poor.
Cox: History’s most plagued city can lead the way 28 Jul 2020 Venice has benefitted more than any other place over the centuries from global trade and the movement of people. “La Serenissima” has also withstood pandemics, devoting churches as testaments to each calamity. A plan to remake its business model has merits beyond the lagoon.
U.S. aid can give shot to women in the workforce 27 Jul 2020 Female employees have been hit hard in the pandemic, with a higher jobless rate and lower labor participation than men. Congress is mulling economic Band-Aids but the crisis is an opening for more ambitious plans like universal childcare. It’s a longer-term boost for growth.
Can the Fed help close the racial prosperity gap? 22 Jul 2020 Economists advising U.S. presidential hopeful Joe Biden have proposed making racial equity part of the Federal Reserve’s mandate. That chimes with the zeitgeist. But if it means rate-setters ignore too-high inflation for too long, it could hurt those Biden aims to help.
Equality is failing at shareholder ballot box, too 17 Jul 2020 Investors rarely push for votes advocating greater diversity and garner little support when they do, in part due to financial-industry demographics. George Floyd’s death may change that. But firms have a lot of latitude to downplay investor votes – unless they’re about pay.
Chancellor: Wall Street is firmly in Wonderland 9 Jul 2020 As society melts down, markets melt up. The constant manipulation of interest rates has turned the world of finance upside down. Serious investment has become impossible. It’s the sort of topsy-turvy state Lewis Carroll might have imagined if Alice was putting money to work.
Facebook’s new best friends are a weakening link 8 Jul 2020 Small firms account for a large chunk of the social network’s ad revenue. The pandemic has also made them more dependent on the platform just as big companies from Ford to Unilever boycott it. But a Covid-19 surge may hurt the minnows when CEO Mark Zuckerberg needs them most.
Food rations point to India’s fiscal poverty 8 Jul 2020 New Delhi is handing out free grains to 800 mln people, a frugal way to support households. Two-thirds of citizens in the world’s fifth-largest economy are vulnerable to income shocks, but the small tax base constrains redistribution options.
Review: The callous roots of caffeine capitalism 3 Jul 2020 “Coffeeland” recounts Englishman James Hill’s rise from travelling salesman to king of El Salvador’s coffee industry. Though his farms brought wealth to some, they made the country less equal and heavily reliant on one resource. Many African nations face a similar dilemma today.
China smothers Hong Kong in heavy security blanket 1 Jul 2020 A harsh new law will quash protests that have vexed the business community. The definition of subversion is ominously vague, while allowing for extradition and secret trials. It also applies to non-residents, further complicating risk management. The price of order is high.
Corona Capital: U.S. recovery, Small-business aid 30 Jun 2020 Concise views on the pandemic’s corporate and financial fallout: White House virus adviser Anthony Fauci’s estimate that U.S. cases could breach 100,000 a day is bad news for the economy. Plus: Uncle Sam’s loan program for small businesses comes to an end with money in the bank.
Corporate boycotts expose an inconvenient truth 26 Jun 2020 Brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Verizon are pulling ad spending from Facebook because of racist content. It’s as if capitalism sprouted a conscience. But much as some might claim otherwise, companies just aren’t wired to drive social change. The possible exception: Facebook itself.
Review: Russian capitalism binds “Putin’s People” 26 Jun 2020 The president’s murky networks blur the line between public, private and criminal cash, Catherine Belton writes. Tycoons must obey the omnipresent Kremlin to survive. Half of ordinary Russians do the same: They rely on the system for work. It helps explain Putin’s survival.
Unilever’s fairness agenda gets harder to manage 26 Jun 2020 The Anglo-Dutch giant is renaming skin-lightening products popular in India which generate $500 mln in sales. Dropping them, like J&J, would better fit with CEO Alan Jope’s values-driven ethos. Multinationals trying to be global and progressive will face more of these dilemmas.
Vaccine victory would be half cure for economy 25 Jun 2020 Governments have ploughed over $5 bln into efforts to create a barrier against Covid-19. Promising trials raise hopes the virus can be made less lethal. But as even effective vaccines would still allow the disease to spread, they will only allow a partial return to normality.
Viewsroom: Reparations math, the coming WFH battle 25 Jun 2020 As America continues to grapple with the legacy of slavery, Breakingviews columnists debate the financial question of whether the government, and some corporations, have a debt to repay. And Pete Sweeney dives deep into the post-pandemic future of working from home – or not.
The looming war over working from home 24 Jun 2020 After decades of false starts in telecommuting, the pandemic has ushered in a real revolution. It’s great for collaborative technology developers, less so for office landlords. The next big clash between labour and capital over the fruits of productivity is also set to kick off.
Cox: Companies can go first on reparations 19 Jun 2020 As Pepsi’s move to retire Aunt Jemima shows, corporations are grappling anew with America’s original sin. The soul-searching should lead them to their archives to quantify the role slavery or other forms of racism played on their income statements. It’s complicated but doable.