Older people are quietly moving in with their parents at twice the rate of their younger counterparts.
Debbie Rohr, her husband, and twin teenage sons live in a well-tended three-bedroom home in Salinas. The ranch-style house has a spacious kitchen that looks out on a yard filled with rosebushes. It’s a modest but comfortable house, the type that Rohr, 52, pictured for herself at this stage of life.
A new report, Sharing is the New Buying, offers important insight for big brands who are grappling with the emergence of the Collaborative Economy, and for the startups that are driving this growth. The collaborative economy is a powerful movement in which people are getting the things from each other, it’s a combination of trends like the sharing economy, maker movement, and co-innovation. (Infographic)
Continue reading… “Sharing is the new buying: Insights into the Collaborative Economy”
China’s shadow banks have increased credit from 120 to 190 percent of GDP.
A historic credit boom, unregulated lenders promising high, “risk-free” returns, and surging property prices making it all go – is this the U.S. in 2004, or China in 2014?
Continue reading… “Is China’s credit bubble about to burst?”
Welcome to Doha at its 21st century ‘knowledge economy’ zenith.
By 2050 what will Qatar look like? A semi-fictional vision presented by Barry Mansfield shows likely changes in cultural and economic life brought about by a ‘rise of the machines’ – and how Qataris may blend the traditional and high technology in a way that is agreeable to them.
Continue reading… “What Qatar will look like in 2050”
Who has been hiring and hasn’t?
After the start of the worst six months for the U.S. labor market since the Great Depression five years ago, we learned last week that 203,000 new jobs were created in November and the unemployment rate dropped to 7%. Discussion in the immediate aftermath of the news centered on whether the report marked more of the ho-hum same or a sign that, after three years of puttering along, the economy might finally be preparing for a return to something approaching prosperity.
Continue reading… “Who’s hiring and who isn’t hiring”
U.S. comes in 31st place on internet speed.
How fast we can access the internet is very important. There is evidence that internet bandwidth is a key driver of economic growth and online participation, and there is plenty of other research to point to its role in social value creation.
Continue reading… “Global comparison of household internet speeds”
Americans began taking their foot off the gas pedal well before the recession.
Energy an urban-planning nerds have been pondering a very interesting question these days – has the U.S. passed peak car? Ever since the recession, Americans have been driving less, getting fewer licenses, and using less gas. But is that just the work of the recession, or something more permanent?
Continue reading… “The decline of driving in the U.S.”
Black unemployment is higher than Hispanic unemployment, which itself is higher than white unemployment. This has not only been true for the last year, or the last decade, but it has been true for the last four decades and beyond.
Continue reading… “America’s workforce is even more divided by race than you think”
There’s a new low for the long-haul traveler. Airlines are ordering new Dreamliner 787s and Airbus A330s and are asking to have them fitted with 16.7″-wide coach seats. These are planes intended for intercontinental flights — six to 14 hours! — and they’re shaving the armrests, squeezing the seats, and otherwise cramming in passengers. The airlines say it’ll all be OK — they’ll just distract you from your terrible circumstances with big meals and TV.
Continue reading… “Airline coach seats are getting even worse”
Where and how the world does business is changing. For the last thirty days,emerging markets have been a source of low-cost but increasingly skilled labor. Their fast-growing cities are filled with millions of new and increasingly prosperous consumers, who provide a new growth market for global corporations at a time when much of the developed world faces slower growth as a result of aging. But the number of large companies from the emerging world will rise, as well, according to a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). This powerful wave of new companies could profoundly alter long-established competitive dynamics around the world.
Continue reading… “The shifting global business landscape”
Cheap solar is a new trend changing the world.
It’s hard to keep up with what’s going on in the world these days. Some facts are familiar to anyone who reads the news. Unemployment is high. Growth is slow. Shale gas is a big deal. But beyond the headlines, shifts are changing the U.S. economy and reshaping the global financial order. Here are ten that have surprised.
Continue reading… “Top 10 stealth economic trends that are changing the world”
By 2020, 40 percent of labor in the U.S. will be comprised of contingent/independent workers.
The federal jobs report that came out recently may have looked bleak, but there is a large and growing group of people who have a sure place in this economy — freelancers. And Elance had debuted its Private Talent Cloud to help companies hire, manage, and pay their freelancers on demand.
Continue reading… “Elance debuts Private Talent Cloud to drive freelance revolution”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.