China’s share of global economic power will hit 18% in the year 2030, matching the might of the American economy in the 1970s and Great Britain's a century before that. That's the forecast of Arvind Subramanian of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. In 2030, Subramanian predicts China will hold 18% of the world's economy, the US 10.1% and India 6.3%. If those figures are right, then China is going to take over the US as the world's economic superpower way before 2030 -- not an inconceivable thought at the rate American politicians are pushing China to revalue the yuan while their own economy remains in the doldrums. more ›

Another week, another handy Economist infographic! This time they take on the Chinese one-child policy and its effect on population size if it were theoretically 100% enforced across the board. They couple that with the predictions from the UN a few weeks ago, which estimate the population as it actually will be with the current one-child policy, a policy that has been unevenly implemented with various exemptions and rigidity across China. According to the Economist's chart, if the one-child policy had been enforced strictly, China's population would shrink to less than 200 million within the century! Man, that'd make for a lot more empty cities. More from the Economist here. more ›

The Economist nicely graphs a new report by the Brookings Institution and London School of Economics that ranks 150 cities from across the globe according to growth (in income, kind of) and employment since the financial crisis. Shanghai is still in the top 10 of performing cities, but has shrunk a little since 2007. At least we're not Dublin! more ›

According to the Economist and their handy chart, you can't get a Big Mac cheaper anywhere else. While in the U.S., a Big Mac costs around $3.71, one could get the same sized burger here at a McDonalds for just $2.18. Which could mean, as the Economist argues, that "[the yuan] is undervalued by about 40%." Of course, the simplicity of the Big Mac index doesn't take into account things like the fact that you could get a jianbing for 2.50 yuan instead, which is five times cheaper than the famous McD burger. I'd bet that influences the prices of fast food greatly. Honestly, does the index work for any country where over half their residents are still operating under third-world conditions? more ›

The Economist has opened up the vote to its readers worldwide to see who'd be the next US president if the whole world could vote. China, as it turns out, is "strong Obama" — 83% of respondents here voted Obama and 17% McCain. With more than 10,000 votes cast, it looks like the whole world is voting overwhelmingly in Obama's favour. When we last checked, 9,120 votes went to Obama while McCain managed 270 votes, defeating his opponent with a small margin in such enlightened states as Cuba, Congo, Sudan, Algeria, Namibia and Macedonia. Iraq turned out to be the only "strong McCain" constituency (thanks to all his military buddies). We think there‘s a lesson to be gleaned from this exercise: The Economist's readers are just not mavericky enough.
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