Remarkable stories from the web in a new, easier format.
At the end of this month, The Oil Drum will be archived after eight years. A flurry of commentary when this was first announced concluded that it’s shutting down because of the demise of peak oil.
The Oil Drum, peak oil and why some good blogs don’t last | FT Alphaville
Even with a large equity cushion, the perverse incentives of ‘too big to fail’ will assert themselves
Markets must force banks, like petulant toddlers, to grow up – FT.com
IN A new paper*, Kevin O’Rourke and Alan Taylor compare the American and euro-area currency zones. Optimists argue that if a big, diverse economy like America manages to have a single currency, Europe should too. Optimists, if not already disillusioned, will find more to dislike in this new analysis.
The sustainability of the single currency: Different rates and different fates | The Economist
SINCE the beginning of May the Indian rupee has plunged by 23% against the dollar. The Turkish lira fell by 15% in that time, and the Indonesian rupiah by 16%. Headlines warn of a replay of the Asian crisis of the late 1990s. Complaints from emerging-market officials that rich-world monetary experiments are to blame for the trouble look like sour grapes. But new research presented to the world’s top central bankers at their recent gathering in Jackson Hole suggests they may have a point.
Free exchange: Horns of a trilemma | The Economist
Economists have long recognised that the state has a role in promoting innovation. It can correct market failures by investing directly in public goods such as research, or by using the tax system to nudge businesses towards doing so. But Ms Mazzucato argues that the entrepreneurial state does far more than just make up for the private sector’s shortcomings
Schumpeter: The entrepreneurial state | The Economist
Collectively, it turns out, official US government holdings (the Fed and other state bodies) have in percentage terms decreased since the 2008 crisis while private holdings, inclusive of foreign holdings, have gone up.
Guest post: Why the Fed is a marginal player in US debt | FT Alphaville
Corporate investment in technology is now farther below trend growth than it has been at any point in the last 50 years, despite the fact that American non-financial corporations are sitting on an enormous cash pile of nearly $1.5 trillion.
Corporate IT Spending To Rebound – Business Insider
The gap in corporate earnings between the U.S and Europe is at an “unprecedented” 25 year high, according to UBS, which predicts that profits in Europe are set to rebound to the pre-crisis peak within three years. Earnings per share (EPS) for European companies are 25 percent below their peak in 2007, while for the U.S. they are 20 percent higher than the 2007 peak.
Biggest gap in 25 years between US and Europe earnings
The company, Meta, is building computerized headwear that can overlay interactive 3-D content onto the real world. While the device is bulky, Meta hopes to eventually slim it down into a sleek, light pair of normal-looking glasses that could be used in all kinds of virtual activities
A Wearable Computer More Powerful than Glass, and Even More Awkward | MIT Technology Review
A pair of twins who were adopted by separate families as babies got married without knowing they were brother and sister, a peer told the House of Lords.
BBC NEWS | UK | Parted-at-birth twins ‘married’
Now, Titan Aerospace has developed a solar-powered, high-altitude drone that can remain in flight for five years.
Solar-Powered Drone can Remain Airborne for Five Years
But behind the well-known importance of mealtimes, lies a picture of a country whose justly celebrated culinary tradition is matched by a crippling set of problems which have resisted reform and given it one of the most sluggish economies in the world for more than a decade.
Lunch hour in Italy serves up some sour economic lessons
There could be at least 320,000 viruses awaiting discovery that are circulating in animals, a study suggests.
BBC News – Mammals harbour ‘at least 320,000 new viruses’
A new London skyscraper dubbed the “Walkie Talkie” has been blamed for reflecting light which melted parts of a car parked on a nearby street.
BBC News – ‘Walkie-Talkie’ skyscraper melts Jaguar car parts
The world’s thinnest wireless keyboard is to be unveiled. As well as doing text input, the new paper-thin touch screen from CSR responds to touch and gesture control. It can also be used with a pen for handwriting recognition and drawing. The device will be unveiled at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin
First glimpse of the world’s thinnest keyboard – video | Technology | theguardian.com
Coase, the Clifton R. Musser Professor Emeritus of Economics, is best known for his 1937 paper, “The Nature of the Firm,” which offered groundbreaking insights about why firms exist and established the field of transaction cost economics
Ronald H. Coase, founding scholar in law and economics, 1910-2013 | UChicago News
“Looking 12 months forward, we are introducing a base case S&P500 price target of 1840, implying roughly 12% upside from here,”
Morgan Stanley’s 12-Month S&P 500 Target – Business Insider
Many experts would have us believe that robots and other technologies are behind the job drought. That couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Stop Saying Robots Are Destroying Jobs—They Aren’t | MIT Technology Review
