Regularly, I get asked how Uber, car sharing providers, and other mobility providers plan on making profit. How can you be cheaper than cabs, but have a similar business model? How can you make money with car sharing, when a ride only costs around 10 dollars? How is it possible to make money on scooters, that only cost one dollar per ride? But still, Uber, Mercedes, and venture capital companies keep spending millions, if not billions, on these ventures. Why? What is going to change? – Everything!
Since Edward Snowden, we know how much intelligence agencies, especially the US’ and its allied intelligence agencies, collect about ordinary citizens. Nothing is private and everyone can become the target. Is that something we should be worried about? Should we be worried about the absolute power enjoyed by intelligence agencies? If so, why isn’t anyone doing anything about it?
First, it needs to be said that I am a strong supporter of Winston Churchill’s statement: “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”. I fully believe in the value of democracy and I would not want to have it any other way. But, recent events in democratic countries have allowed for doubt that the intelligence of the masses will guide humanity safely and peacefully through time: the rise of right wing parties in Europe and a general disenchantment with politics.
The Sino-African investment discourse in the broader topic of African development has two major narratives: Firstly, China as the savior of Africa’s development after decades of failed Western development aid, and secondly, China as the devil, who exploits poor weak African states. For a bachelor thesis, I went to explore the perceptions involved in this issue in the Zambian construction sector.
Classical Economics relies on Monopoly models, Oligopoly models, and Perfect Competition. Their predictive power and accuracy are up for discussion, but they do help (especially economics students) to illustrate and explain macroeconomic behavior. During a recent stay in Zambia, I observed the consequences of lacking alternatives for economic actors.
“ETS, RIP – The failure to reform Europe’s carbon market will reverberate round the world” – The Economist, 2013
The European Union’s cap-and-trade scheme aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been proclaimed dead not only by The Economist. Is it really that bad? We take the United Nation’s point of view that human made greenhouse gases accelerate Global Warming. The success in the first international emission trading scheme, and until today also the world’s largest, is therefore a major milestone in fighting greenhouse gas emission. If it failed, this would be a major setback for emission reduction. So has it really failed as The Economist states?Undoubtedly, there seems to be an issue. Emission prices fell from over 30 Euro per ton of CO2 equivalent to under 5 Euro. Has oversupply destroyed the emission market and the emission trading scheme?
While southern Europe is still struggling with the European debt crisis, Germany’s economy has, despite minor dents, not come to a halt and so far has withstood any recessive tendency. Especially in Germany, people seem to see a connection between Gerhard Schröder’s Agenda 2010, which was a labor-market reform, which began in 2003. The implementation occurred mainly until 2005 and focused on a liberalization of the labor market. A Japanese researcher even claimed to have found the exact impact, which these reforms have on Germany’s current economic success (Spiegel Online, 2013).
“Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Edward Snowden has created quite some stories in the news. The discussion on these topics is good and important, but I am missing two major points: