The geography of gender: where women work, economies grow

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Women from a single mothers’ association sweep rice at their processing plant in the town of Bolgatanga, Ghana.

Our world is full of brilliant possibilities. But they’re not always open to everyone. The opportunities for women to contribute to the global economy are intrinsically linked to where in the world they are born and reach adulthood. So long as global disparities exist in education and opportunity – as the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report reaffirms this week – this will always remain the case. This holds us all back. Yet, the business community can, and must, help tackle this divide.

The geography of gender is challenging and complex. The latest Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE), for example, highlights the significance of geography in female entrepreneurship. Unsurprisingly, MIWE showed that higher-income, advanced economies, with open and vibrant markets that support SMEs and the ease of doing business provide highly conducive and enabling conditions to support female business owners.

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The coming boom in Millennial wealth

 

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Historically, much written on Millennials has focused on economic strife and crushing student loan debt. While, as with virtually every other generation in history, many Millennials have struggled financially during their youth, a new report from youth marketing experts YPulse makes four predictions that are suggestive of a significant turnaround being on the horizon.

Before getting to the predictions, it is important to take into account two key factors pertaining to Millennial wealth. First, the U.S. economy has been booming for a sustained period of time. Unemployment reached the point in 2018 where there are more open jobs than workers, the stock market is up, GDP has been growing at a healthy pace, and average real earnings have been increasing. In such an environment, those becoming established in jobs are in a better position to thrive. Moreover, many Millennials have been known to be careful spenders on many consumer products.

A second factor that bodes well for wealth growth is that student loans are not the albatross they are made out to be for most Millennials. While this does not mean that a significant number of individuals do not struggle with student debt, when one takes a macro view of the situation, it is not as bad as it has often been made out to be. One needs to remember that average level of $30,000 of student loan debt in 2019 would have translated to about $4650 in 1970 when an average aged Baby Boomer was taking out loans.

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Boomer homes to flood US market, but who will buy them?

Baby Boomer home sales will flood the housing market: Report

Baby Boomers’ homes will be sold on a large scale over the next 20 years, but with millennials refraining from home ownership, who will be buying them?

The U.S. housing market is on the verge of being inundated with homes for sale on a scale that hasn’t been seen since the housing bubble in the mid-2000s.

The tsunami is being driven by a grim reality: Baby Boomers dying.

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European Millennials are not like their American counterparts

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Under-30s in Europe are more disposed than their parents are to view poverty as a result of an individual’s choice.

In public perception, age is often related to political views. “Not to be a republican at 20 is proof of want of heart; to be one at 30 is proof of want of head,” the 19th-century French monarchist François Guizot is supposed to have said. King Louis Philippe’s prime minister was swept from power by the 1848 revolution, presumably by a combination of republican under-30s and older Frenchmen who had lost their heads. Since then, Guizot’s famous one-liner has often been updated.

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Co-working spaces pose threat to commercial real estate market, Fed official says

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LaunchBio CEO Joan Siefert Rose leads a tour of life sciences co-working lab, BioLabs NC.

The growing popularity of co-working spaces like WeWork could pose a risk to the US economy in the next economic downturn, a Fed official warned on Friday.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren, who has publicly dissented with the Fed’s recent interest rate cuts, said lower rates will boost risk in “unexpected places.”

“Evolving market models, along with low interest rates, are creating a new type of potential financial stability risk in commercial real estate,” he said at an event in New York City. “One such market model is the development of co-working spaces in many major urban office markets.”

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Australia is on the brink of a housing collapse that resembles 2008

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The U.S. has been an “island of stability” as economic woes grow all over the world. Other such islands exist, too.

Australia is high on the list. The last Down Under recession was 27—yes, 27—years ago in 1991. No other developed economy can say the same.

The long streak has a lot to do with being one of China’s top raw material suppliers during its historic boom. Australia has done other things right, too.

But all good things come to an end. While not officially in recession yet, Australia’s growth is slowing.

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Looking to the future, public sees an America in decline on many fronts

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Majorities predict a weaker economy, a growing income divide, a degraded environment and a broken political system

Public is broadly pessimistic about the future of AmericaWhen Americans peer 30 years into the future, they see a country in decline economically, politically and on the world stage. While a narrow majority of the public (56%) say they are at least somewhat optimistic about America’s future, hope gives way to doubt when the focus turns to specific issues.

A new Pew Research Center survey focused on what Americans think the United States will be like in 2050 finds that majorities of Americans foresee a country with a burgeoning national debt, a wider gap between the rich and the poor and a workforce threatened by automation.

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The end of work: The consequences of an economic singularity

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Today, we are no longer confined to what nature or natural intelligence must offer. From the steam engine to electricity and digital transformations to artificial intelligence, molecular manufacturing and bioengineering, each new transformative innovation has brought us a new (man-made) way of doing things in ways that nature did not provide for.

As new ways of manufacturing and production are emerging, they are taking away an ever-increasing number of tasks and roles previously performed by a human labor force. Furthermore, the automation, self-improvement, self-replication and distributed nature of the manufacturing processes are producing products and goods at a minimal cost. As a result, each of these existing and emerging technologies, individually and collectively, will likely one day eliminate the need for human labor for production of goods and services—shaking the very fundamentals of economics as we know today.

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Chart: The World’s Largest 10 Economies in 2030

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The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.

Today’s emerging markets are tomorrow’s powerhouses, according to a recent forecast from Standard Chartered, a multinational bank headquartered in London.

The bank sees developing economies like Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil, and Egypt all moving up the ladder – and by 2030, it estimates that seven of the world’s largest 10 economies by GDP (PPP) will be located in emerging markets.

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From coworking to a smart city.

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This year is the 10th anniversary of my decision to devote myself to the creation of the models of social changes. After banging my head against the wall, trying to scale the default coworking business model, I realized that only city-wide catalyst models such as smart city can survive and are ones of the pillars of the future of coworking business as well as cities itself.

It took some time when I tried to persuade the atomized community of small coworking owners that our model will not sustain and will probably end up very, very soon, but they didn’t want to listen. Next year, the network of publicly financed spaces turned up into business, disrupting the co-working space in every major city.

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The homeless crisis is getting worse in America’s richest cities

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A toxic combination of slow wage growth and skyrocketing rents has put housing out of reach for a greater number of people.

Daniel Olguin, 28, works on his computer in the front of his van, while his wife, Mary, 26, checks on their almost-2-year-old child in the back. The couple, who have a band called Carpoolparty, have traveled around the U.S. since 2017, playing gigs with their electronic pop music whenever they can. Daniel, who was recently diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, says his parents kicked the couple out on Christmas Day a few years ago, but they have since reconciled. The two musicians have been in Los Angeles for about five months, and use the quiet and safety of the Safe Parking L.A. lot in the Koreatown section of the city to work on their music and sleep. According to a 2018 count done by Los Angeles County, there are more than 15,700 people living in 9,100 vehicles every night. These vehicle dwellers represent over 25 percent of the homeless population in L.A. County.

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