Key Global Health Indicators: Life Expectancy, Mortality, and Fertility Trends (2000-2023)
This analysis examines three critical health indicators—life expectancy at birth, under-5 mortality rate, and total fertility rate—across various countries from 2000 to 2023. Data source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org
Inflation Trends in OECD Countries: Annual Changes in GDP Deflator and Consumer Prices (2000-2015)
The presented graphs analyze inflation trends in OECD countries, showcasing the annual percentage changes in both the GDP deflator and consumer prices. Data source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, Retrieved from https://www.worldbank.org
Percentage of HE student qualifications obtained in science subjects by personal characteristics 2018/19 to 2022/23
Percentage of HE student qualifications obtained in science subjects by sex, age group, disability status, religious belief, ethnicity, level of qualification and country of HE provider. Sourced from: Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2022/23. Data source link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb269/figure-18. Data file canonical link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/sb269/figure-18.csv. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
UK Energy Trends and Prices Dec 2024
The following provides a comprehensive analysis of energy production, trade, and consumption statistics, presented both in total and by specific fuel types. The data reflects key trends over the latest three-month period (August 2024 to October 2024) compared to the same period a year earlier. Published by: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Last updated: 19 December 2024. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Dollar reserves and U.S. yields
How do foreign official (FO) flow shocks impact U.S. Treasury yields, and what are the implications of changes in China’s reserve composition?
Dancing in the Rain: Resilience in High-Risk Industries
Today, we’re exploring a fascinating topic—how high-risk organizations balance stability and flexibility to build resilience in the face of life-threatening dangers.
Divestment Dilemma
A growing trend in corporate finance, as a result of pressure from activists, regulators, and governments, is the divestment of polluting assets.
Colonialism’s Shadow: Unpacking Its Modern Impact
Colonialism, a relic of the past? Far from it. Today we’re exploring how this centuries-old system continues to shape our modern world in ways that might surprise you.
Revolutionizing Manufacturing: The Digital Servitization Shift
Today, we’re diving into a fascinating shift in manufacturing: digital servitization. It’s a concept that’s redefining how manufacturers compete and innovate in the digital age.
Climate Change and Trade
How has the perception of trade’s role in addressing climate change evolved, and what key changes have brought trade and climate discussions closer together? Ralph Ossa, is the Chief Economist and Director of the Economic Research and Statistics Division at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Dr Ossa joined the WTO in January 2023 after a career in academia with appointments at Princeton University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Zurich. Professor Piers Forster is Professor of Physical Climate Change and the founding Director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds. He has played significant roles authoring Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports and is Currently Chair of the UK Government’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), advising on emissions targets and reporting on progress in adapting to climate change.
Greenland’s Strategic Role in U.S. Arctic Policy
Greenland’s location at the gateway to the Arctic makes it a crucial geopolitical and economic asset as melting ice opens new shipping routes and exposes valuable resources. The island is vital for U.S. Arctic security, hosting the Pituffik Space Base, a key military outpost for monitoring regional activity. Its vast reserves of rare earth minerals and potential oil and gas resources further enhance its strategic importance, particularly as the U.S. seeks to reduce reliance on Chinese-controlled supply chains. The 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement provides a legal framework for U.S. operations, granting significant authority for military infrastructure and rapid response capabilities. As competition with Russia and China intensifies in the Arctic, strengthening U.S. influence in Greenland through defense agreements, economic investments, and NATO cooperation is critical to safeguarding American interests and securing leadership in this increasingly contested region.
The Importance of U.S.-China Trade
The U.S.-China trade relationship is one of the most significant in the world, driving global supply chains and economic growth. China is a top export market for U.S. goods, while the U.S. is the largest destination for Chinese exports. This trade has brought lower costs for U.S. consumers and higher profits for companies, supporting over a million U.S. jobs. However, tensions have grown. Tariffs from 2018-2019 reduced the U.S.’s share of China’s trade, and the U.S. now accounts for less than 15% of China’s total imports and exports. Meanwhile, China has diversified its trading partners, boosting exports to Southeast Asia and reducing reliance on U.S. commodities like soybeans and wheat. Despite challenges, trade remains crucial for both countries, underscoring their economic interdependence even amid shifting policies and geopolitical tensions.
Where Does the EU’s Gas Come From?
The European Union has made significant changes to its energy sources since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which highlighted the dangers of relying on a single supplier. Diversifying energy supplies became essential, requiring investment in new pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and infrastructure. In 2021, over 40% of the EU’s pipeline gas came from Russia. By 2023, this number dropped to just 8%, with Russia’s total share of EU gas imports—pipeline and LNG combined—falling to less than 15%. This was achieved through a sharp increase in LNG imports and a reduction in overall gas consumption. In 2023, Norway and the United States became the EU’s top gas suppliers. Norway provided almost 30% of the EU’s total gas imports, while the U.S. supplied nearly 50% of the EU’s LNG. Other key suppliers include North African countries, the UK, and Qatar. The EU imported over 120 billion cubic meters of LNG in 2023, with France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy as the largest importers. This shift reflects the EU’s commitment to reducing dependence on Russian energy and ensuring a secure and diverse energy supply. Why is gas so crucial for the EU? Gas fuels power generation, heats over 30% of EU households, and supports industrial processes. Despite a 13% drop in consumption in 2022, the EU still used over 350 billion cubic meters of gas, underscoring its importance to daily life and the economy. The EU’s energy transformation is a clear step toward resilience and sustainability.
Race, Space, and Citizenship
During the Progressive Era, the playground movement sparked a wave of park and playground construction in cities nationwide, with advocates promoting organized play as a deterrent to juvenile delinquency and green spaces as enhancements to urban aesthetics. Recent research shows that in the San Francisco Bay Area, cities established playground commissions, hosted conferences, and launched projects to transform cityscapes. However, the small yet vibrant Black middle class, initially excluded from these public spaces, worked to secure access while also investing in their own community institutions. With the onset of World War I, the focus of recreation rhetoric shifted from curbing delinquency to embracing cultural pluralism, providing Black Americans new opportunities to assert their claims to full citizenship.
Social Impact in Kenya: Organizations, Evaluators, and Beneficiaries
Organizations often claim their actions benefit others, especially through social impact initiatives aimed at addressing societal challenges like poverty and education. While such claims help organizations gain legitimacy with stakeholders like donors and customers, actual benefits to target beneficiaries are often minimal or even harmful. Recent research highlights a triadic relationship among organizations, evaluators, and target beneficiaries. Rather than being passive recipients, beneficiaries actively supported and shaped social impact initiatives by corroborating the corporation’s claims to evaluators, leveraging this position to negotiate localized practices that provided substantive benefits. By redirecting generic, global practices into contextually relevant ones, beneficiaries played a crucial role in both organizational legitimation and impactful outcomes. This triadic perspective reveals the potential of beneficiary agency to bridge the gap between stated goals and meaningful impacts in social initiatives.
Decolonizing Colombian Justice: Victim Participation and Indigenous Rights
Transitional justice aims to address justice during transitions to peace and democracy. However, its standardization by Global North experts, with limited local input, often reflects a liberal justice framework that perpetuates structural discrimination against ethnic groups. Colombia’s 2016 Peace Agreement with the FARC-EP seeks to counter this by establishing a System for Truth, Reparation, and Guarantees of Non-Repetition, including the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP). The JEP mandates victim participation in determining reparations, particularly when victims belong to ethnic communities. This has led to decolonizing decisions, such as integrating indigenous perspectives and recognizing Territory as a living being with rights deserving reparations. Recent research examines the successes and challenges of this process, contributing to discussions on indigenous rights and victim participation in transitional justice.
The US-China Trade War
The Trump Administration’s tariffs disrupted mutually beneficial trade relationships between Chinese producers and U.S. consumers. To bypass these tariffs, firms have shifted production to nearby Vietnam. Within Vietnam, cities closer to China in terms of geographic proximity and industrial alignment experience faster growth and attract more foreign direct investment (FDI). These cities are increasingly turning to renewable energy sources to power their economies. This study examines the improvements in local air quality and reductions in carbon dioxide emissions driven by the expansion of regional trade. The growth of regional trade in China has significant implications for the development of interconnected urban systems across Asia.
Linkage between Income and Government Expenditure at Indian Sub-nationals
Does Wagner’s law, which represents the long-run relationship between income and public expenditure, hold true at the subnational level in India?
Measurement and Theory of Core Inflation
How does the concept of core inflation serve as a critical tool for policymakers, and what are the various approaches used to construct informative core measures?
Do Investors Value Workforce Gender Diversity?
Investors reward workforce gender diversity with positive stock price reactions.
South Africa’s Agriculture Faces Sharp Decline
South Africa’s agricultural sector experienced a sharp 28.8% decline in performance in the third quarter of 2024, attributed to a mid-summer drought, with the extent of the decrease surprising analysts. A rapid assessment by the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP) revised the year-to-date decline to 5-6%, rather than the official figure of 15.5%, and projected a 4.8% annual contraction for 2024, closer to earlier forecasts. In response the Department of Agriculture will launch a new Agricultural Conditions Assessment Committee in 2025 to improve data quality and provide regular updates on the sector’s performance.
What Causes U.S. Government Shutdowns?
Government shutdowns in the United States occur when Congress fails to pass funding legislation, leading to curtailed services, furloughed federal workers, and halted non-essential operations. First enforced in 1980 due to strict interpretations of the Antideficiency Act, shutdowns have since caused significant economic and societal disruptions, with notable examples in 1995–96, 2013, and 2018–19. Unlike many parliamentary systems where executive and legislative alignment prevents such impasses, U.S. shutdowns reflect deep political divisions, often over budget allocations or policy priorities.
Tackling Climate, Biodiversity, and Food Insecurity Together
A major IPBES report highlights the interconnectedness of climate change, biodiversity loss, and food insecurity, warning that addressing these issues in isolation leads to unintended consequences like biodiversity damage and pollution. The report urges holistic governance to tackle these crises, offering over 70 low-cost solutions, such as combating disease through ecosystem restoration rather than medication alone. It emphasizes that current decision-making prioritizes short-term financial gains, undervaluing nature’s true worth, with unsustainable practices contributing to biodiversity decline and escalating costs of delayed action.
German election 2025 Explainer
Germany’s CDU prioritizes tax cuts, welfare reform, and stricter immigration controls; SPD and Greens focus on supporting low-income households, relaxing fiscal rules, and green initiatives, while all major parties align on industrial cost reductions, NATO targets, and Ukraine aid, with Scholz advocating caution in the conflict.
The Liberalism of Refuge
Why are liberal societies still admirable despite their flaws, for providing refuge, limiting power, and enabling new opportunities?
Design of Patient Visit Itineraries in Tandem Systems
Multistage service is common in healthcare. One widely adopted approach to manage patient visits in multistage service is to provide patients with visit itineraries that specify personalized appointment time for each patient at each service stage. Nan Liu discusses how to design such visit itineraries.
The Spear, the Scroll, and the Pebble
How the Greek City-State Developed as a Male Warrior-Citizen Collective
Mutual and Exclusive: Dyadic Sources of Trust in Interorganizational Exchange
How does a dyadic view of interorganizational trust address differences in partners’ expectations, focusing on exchange hazards, power imbalance, and power positions?
Moving beyond Statements and Good Intentions in US Law Schools
How can law school leaders cultivate antiracist cultures within their schools, among students, and across the legal profession, despite growing backlash against antiracism and diversity initiatives?
Do renewable energy investments create local jobs?
Why do renewable energy projects face local opposition despite job creation, and how do their economic impacts differ between solar and wind projects?
I do plan to do that in the future, just not the near future
Tim Fish and Ondine Bradbury examines pre-service teachers (PSTs) from two Australian universities regarding their involvement in rural professional experience (PE) placements and their potential impact on future career choices.
December 2024 Federal Reserve Inflation Rate Decision
The Federal Reserve concluded its rate cut cycle based on an assessment of factors aligning with its updated economic projections and inflation goals. Chair Powell’s comments offered insights into the timing of future rate adjustments, including the possibility of a pause. Additionally, the Federal Reserve plans to address concerns about asset price inflation and labor market strength while navigating these economic conditions.
Induction of Social Contagion
What is social contagion? How does friendship-nomination targeting enhance the spread of health education and behaviors in social networks?
The Discursive Evolution of Human Rights Law
How does a novel database approach provide new insights into human rights debates and evolving trends?
An early indicator for anomalous stock market performance
How can a real-time indicator detect over 80% of stock market anomalies, including the 1987 Bubble and 2007 Financial Crisis?