tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85316152012-02-03T09:04:09.165+11:00Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.comBlogger641100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1121520526951795222005-07-16T23:27:00.000+10:002005-07-30T14:13:33.633+10:00

I actually had a very good excuse for not blogging during the past few months... I've moved to the other side of the world!After living on the East Coast of the US for my entire life, I made the move down under, to Sydney Australia!The move went well, and I'm finally settled in, and enjoying getting to know my new home city. It's a great place... it's the middle of the winter here, but it feels

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com105tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1111900867663224452005-03-27T15:02:00.000+10:002005-03-27T15:28:23.560+10:00

The March 2005 issue of Inc. Magazine has a tremendous article about China. It's adapted from Ted Fishman's China, Inc., and contains a great summary of the major China trends/issues that business leaders should know about. They are: 1. China's economy is much larger than the official numbers show. 2. The growth of China's economy has no equal in modern history. 3. China is winning the global

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1111365018700519912005-03-21T13:08:00.000+11:002005-03-22T16:55:24.180+11:00

In 2003, Toyota started a new brand called "Scion", aimed at American 20-somethings. In order to succeed in this market, they've done a lot of interesting things to build their "cool", such as putting on a great urban/graffiti art tour, hosting big popular nightclub parties monthly in 6 metros, a tour of "cult music films" on college campuses, and distributing a magazine that includes funky

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com167tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1109545478573962512005-02-28T10:04:00.000+11:002005-02-28T10:11:07.853+11:00

This is 3M's new security glass product demonstration/publicity stunt.They took the side of a bus station in Vancouver, and instead of putting a regular old ad on the side, they encased stacks of dollar bills behind their security glass.It's very cool, very eye-catching, and they got a lot of free publicity.There are, of course, some caveats. Only the bills on the top are real money (CA$500 worth

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1109023447442996232005-02-22T09:04:00.000+11:002005-02-22T09:05:44.256+11:00

It's faint, but it's there...From the AP:MAHABALIPURAM, India - Archaeologists have begun underwater excavations of what is believed to be an ancient city and parts of a temple uncovered by the tsunami off the coast of a centuries-old pilgrimage town.Three rocky structures with elaborate carvings of animals have emerged near the coastal town of Mahabalipuram, which was battered by the Dec. 26

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com98tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1108520091059761052005-02-21T16:35:00.000+11:002005-03-20T05:40:08.520+11:00

Welcome to the Presidents' Day edition of Carnival of the Capitalists, the weekly round-up of business and economics blogs.While you're here, please take a look at a few of the other posts. The Raw Prawn primarily deals with business, economics, and international politics, so if you're here for the Carnival of the Capitalists, you'll probably find a few things to interest you :)Update: A number

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com312tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1108254929486001472005-02-14T14:00:00.000+11:002005-02-22T04:56:06.223+11:00

As a business blogger, I'm pretty much obligated to comment on the biggest advertising event of the year, the Superbowl. There was a lot of ruckus this year about ads being pulled in order to avoid controversy, but a lot of great ads still made it.Here is my take on the top 10 ads of the Superbowl. How did I evaluate them? Effectiveness. My standard was, "if I were the CEO, how pleased would I be

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com276tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1105763365079977872005-01-15T15:20:00.000+11:002005-01-15T17:04:54.860+11:00

The airline industry has been having a lot of trouble over the past few years, and it looks like it's getting even worse. The most commonly cited problems:High fuel costsHigh labor costs due to union strifeHigh fixed costs for the planes, which can make a short-term decrease in air travel deadlyCut-throat competitors, willing to take a loss in order to keep flying, combined with consumers that

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com87tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1104376060660053562004-12-30T15:30:00.000+11:002004-12-31T13:17:39.600+11:00

Update: Results! John points out that Canada's federal government has taken up my suggestion, and is matching some of its citizens' donations. I wish I'd emailed this to Paul Martin, so I could take credit :-P By now I'm sure everyone has heard about the earthquake and resultant tsunamis, and the massive devastation they've caused. As of now, the death toll has climbed to 80,000, with no sign of

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com60tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1103764476853510982004-12-23T12:14:00.000+11:002004-12-23T12:18:07.753+11:00

I've posted before about the move by McDonald's towards more healthful food, and also about their unorthodox marketing techniques. Frequent commenter Salas (check out his blog) raises a related point: If healthful food is so great for McDonald's, what about Hardee's, which has taken the opposite tack? Hardee's, meanwhile, last month added the Monster Thickburger to its menu. With two

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com218tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1103433635802636472004-12-19T17:20:00.000+11:002004-12-19T16:22:07.093+11:00

This past week's issue of The Economist had an interesting survey of Indonesia. On the cover of the magazine, in the upper-right corner, was the following: INDONESIA AT A CROSSROADS A Survey, After Page 50 To a normal reader, there's nothing out of the ordinary there. But Simpsons fans aren't normal people. In the "Catch Me If You Can" episode that aired earlier this year, Homer and Marge got

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1103424073464468972004-12-19T13:41:00.000+11:002004-12-21T15:13:47.016+11:00

Tariffs artificially raise the price of imported goods. If the tariffs are large enough, there can be a big incentive to smuggle otherwise legal goods, in order to evade the tariff and sell the goods at a lower price. An example: Pakistan's high tariffs and predominantly poor population has led to a massive flow of smuggled goods from Afghanistan. Rather than paying exorbitant prices for a TV,

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com70tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1102479554156847352004-12-08T15:19:00.000+11:002004-12-09T13:12:59.463+11:00

Mark Cuban, co-founder of Broadcast.com, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, reality TV show host, and blogger, has decided to start a new hedge fund. The focus: Sports gambling I know next to nothing about sports gambling, and I think it's fairly silly when people say, "Investing is just another form of gambling." You'll lose money in the long-run playing blackjack, while you'll make money in the

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com110tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1101781818893154872004-11-30T13:29:00.000+11:002004-11-30T13:42:21.986+11:00

Fabian at Fabian's Hammer (one of the best blogs about China you'll ever find) has expanded his scope to include coverage of Maoist movements around the world. From Nepal and India, to Mexico and Peru, revolutionary Maoism is still very much alive. Keeping abreast of developments relating to Maoist movements is crucial for understanding the internal politics of a number of nations. Western

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1101694376244847242004-11-29T13:12:00.000+11:002004-11-29T13:18:30.160+11:00

We had scarcely gone 200 yards into the Guatemalan forest, 20 of us weaving single file along the faint path behind our machete-wielding guide, when Diego Faustino Chavez warned us about a certain kind of bejuco, or vine. "If you step over it," he said to anthropologist Allen Christenson, "you can disappear. Or you think you've been gone for a few seconds, but it's really been three days."

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1101691735192606922004-11-29T12:28:00.000+11:002004-11-29T12:31:07.600+11:00

I got back in town last night, and so will be blogging regularly again. It was definitely a nice, relaxing vacation. I'd never been on a cruise before, and it's certainly different from the way I'm used to traveling. You're only in a port for 7 hours or so, so you don't get a chance to immerse yourself in the culture, get to know the area, etc. You end up spending most of your time being whisked

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com146tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1101085334148293742004-11-22T11:28:00.000+11:002005-03-14T16:52:06.230+11:00

Sorry for taking so long to put this up... I'm on a cruise in the middle of the Caribbean at the moment, and internet access has been spotty.--------The William J. Clinton Presidential Center: the one library in the world where sex in the stacks isn't frowned upon.Wednesday, November 17thWhen I first caught sight of the center, I thought "that's... interesting." The Economist describes it as "a

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1100678846333467902004-11-17T19:00:00.000+11:002004-11-30T13:45:45.673+11:00

I got a surprise call from a friend last night (tues) at 11pm, telling me that she had an extra ticket to the dedication of Bill Clinton's presidential library in Little Rock today (wednesday). Apparently her boss is a Democratic bigwig who had to bail at the last minute, and so he gave her these tickets, with invites to all of the VIP events. So I booked the first flight out to Little Rock this

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1100231988156524342004-11-12T14:59:00.000+11:002004-12-19T13:42:56.943+11:00

Via Mahalanobis we see that the creator of the bizarre-but-funny cartoon "The End of the World" has been hired by Nike to create three cartoons advertising Nike activewear. Check it out, it's some pretty funny stuff. The idea of viral marketing is to create an ad that viewers will love so much that they'll pass it on to their friends, who then pass it on to their friends (hence the term "viral")

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1100224843602337732004-11-12T12:28:00.000+11:002004-11-12T13:24:35.116+11:00

Reuters: "Arctic thaw could open vast oil and gas region" An accelerating thaw of the Arctic may open vast regions for oil and gas exploration but that brings worries of spills in the fragile environment, experts said on Thursday. Scientists behind an-eight nation report saying the Arctic sea ice could almost vanish in summer by 2100 because of global warming said offshore oil and gas

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1100151107131095002004-11-11T15:25:00.000+11:002004-11-14T05:54:20.886+11:00

Fabian's Hammer has a great new post about China's increasing thirst for oil: The Peoples Republic of China's growing appetite for energy has stressed the global oil and gas industry and is posing the threat of new armed conflicts over limited resources. The PRC's oil imports have doubled over the past five years, surging nearly 40% in the first half of 2004 alone, and the country is now second

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1099973998892482762004-11-09T15:19:00.000+11:002005-03-23T15:26:00.046+11:00

I love interesting ways of displaying complex data, especially maps. With the US presidential election results in, lots of interesting maps have been created.I think we're all pretty familiar with the classic Red vs. Blue map, with states that voted for Bush being colored red, and states that voted for Kerry being colored blue:Here is another view, where one box represents one electoral vote (

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1099861374727869422004-11-08T07:26:00.000+11:002004-11-08T11:02:33.300+11:00

For all of the good ideas developed in the US and Australia, there are many, many more that arise elsewhere. Sometimes these ideas quickly arrive on our shores, and sometimes they never get here. I remember admiring video jukeboxes in Havana, autorickshaws in Bombay, book vending machines in São Paulo, and toll plazas that don't require you to slow down in Singapore. Each one left me thinking, "

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com113tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1099805794682727012004-11-07T15:19:00.000+11:002004-11-08T04:42:07.226+11:00

One of the big stories throughout the election campaign was the rise of "security moms" -- women who are very concerned about terrorism, and who were drawn to the candidate they felt would keep them and their families safe. Many were skeptical about their existence, but it looks like they were a reality. Bush's gains between 2000 and 2004 can mostly be attributed to women -- Bush gained 5 points

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1099798108319524202004-11-07T14:25:00.000+11:002004-11-07T14:38:33.323+11:00

A big overriding theme in my mind is that Bush is more free now. He's won re-election, and can't run again. That combined with his "mandate" would lead one to expect him to pursue what he thinks are the "right" policies, with less concern for how well it flies with the general public. This sounds like a bad thing, on the face of it. The more diligent politicians are about making sure they carry

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1099555631648657312004-11-04T19:18:00.000+11:002004-11-14T07:23:28.790+11:00

Well, it looks like my prediction was wrong. Kerry conceded gracefully, ruining my prediction of a protracted legal battle. Oh well. I'm more than happy to be wrong in a prediction of doom and gloom. There are two questions now on the minds of people all around the world: "Why did Bush win?" and "What will his second term look like?" This post today tackes the question of why Bush won. Next I

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1099369590382609102004-11-02T15:15:00.000+11:002004-11-04T17:23:38.293+11:00

In a move that heralds a new chapter in British Journalism, the country's oldest newspaper, The Times, has turned tabloid. Since November 2003, the 219-year-old Rupert Murdoch-owned paper has offered readers both a broadsheet and tabloid edition in an effort to counter dwindling circulation. Now, The Times is following in the footsteps of another British paper, The Independent, which downsized to

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com86tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1099364836746517562004-11-02T13:59:00.000+11:002004-11-03T08:46:19.373+11:00

This superb post at Contrapositive has everything you need to be your own at-home pundit tomorrow as the results come in for the US election. It tells you everything that will be happening, by the hour, and what it means for each candidate. It will tell you what needs to have happened by, say, 9:30pm for each candidate to feel comfortable. At which point will a candidate be sweating hard,

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098939784436493312004-10-28T13:54:00.000+10:002004-10-28T15:30:21.033+10:00

John Edwards (no, not that one) has an article in CFO magazine about the new frontier in outsourcing. The thrust of his article is that outsourcing is moving away from India and towards other locations: As wages increase in one region, companies move farther afield. This search for new lands spells trouble for India. Admittedly, the subcontinent remains the most popular information-technology

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com103tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098931513970781512004-10-28T12:37:00.000+10:002004-11-12T13:05:30.053+11:00

From Nature: It sounds too incredible to be true, but this is not a hoax. A species of tiny human has been discovered, which lived on the remote Indonesian island of Flores just 18,000 years ago. Researchers have so far unearthed remains from eight individuals who were just one metre tall, with grapefruit-sized skulls. These astonishing little people,

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098516487709026632004-10-23T17:16:00.000+10:002004-10-23T17:28:07.710+10:00

It's been revealed an Australian government agency knowingly released polio vaccine contaminated with a monkey virus back in the 1960s. The simian virus, known as SV-40, has since been linked to a range of cancers, including mesothelioma - a deadly form of lung cancer (it's worth noting Australia has the highest incidence of mesothelioma in the world). Almost three million doses of contaminated

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098484533059069092004-10-23T08:02:00.000+10:002004-10-23T08:47:09.456+10:00

Top-notch funnyman Harry Hutton doesn't make very many "serious" posts over at Chase Me Ladies, I'm In The Cavalry, but when he does, they're definitely worth reading. This recent post deals with the short-lived Venezuelan coup in April 2002: Max Sawicky recently wrote a piece about oil prices in which he said that the US tried to overthrow the Chavez government. This has become conventional

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098407468090973642004-10-22T11:05:00.000+10:002004-10-22T12:46:43.060+10:00

Interpol has warned that buying fake Rolex watches and knock-off Gucci handbags could help line the pockets of terrorists and mobsters. They made the warning during a global conference on counterfeiting in Rome. In addition, officials say bargain hunters could be putting their own lives at risk when purchasing counterfeit goods, citing a case of falsified pharmaceuticals which were blamed for

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098365938808970232004-10-21T23:33:00.000+10:002004-10-22T13:18:47.713+10:00

A British company has come up with new technology that is set to transform the way we are vaccinated and change the lives of millions in the developing world. As it stands now, vaccines have to be kept cold, making it difficult and costly to transport them. This results in many people in developing countries dying from preventable diseases simply because it's too hard to get vaccines to where

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com155tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098340532688068672004-10-21T16:22:00.000+10:002004-10-22T13:37:23.073+10:00

The start of the school year in France re-ignited the debate over the wearing of the Muslim headscarf or "hijab". A new law banning conspicious religious symbols in French schools came into force, but hundreds of girls chose to challenge it, donning headscarves in protest of a law they considered "anti-Islamic". Now the consequences are being felt. Two young girls have become the first French

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098333171482839992004-10-21T15:28:00.000+10:002004-10-21T14:43:53.306+10:00

From Nature: A pill-sized brain chip has allowed a quadriplegic man to check e-mail and play computer games using his thoughts. The device can tap into a hundred neurons at a time, and is the most sophisticated such implant tested in humans so far. ...... The BrainGate allowed the patient to control a computer or television using his mind, even when doing other things at the same time.

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097451282817228602004-10-21T13:42:00.000+10:002004-11-01T11:02:01.110+11:00

Online gambling, particularly poker, has been an very successful business, seeing tremendous growth: Gambling over the internet has become big business in the United States over the past year despite the recession that caused an industry-wide advertising slump. Internet gambling, once thought of in the same seedy vein as online pornography, had gained a level of legitimacy despite myriad

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com493tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098228019601283312004-10-20T09:00:00.000+10:002004-10-20T09:25:28.936+10:00

The new Carnival of the Capitalists is up over at Accidental Verbosity. For those not familiar with it, it's a weekly roundup of interesting economics and business posts from around the blogosphere. My "Goodbye Golden Arches" post is in this week's edition. Check it out for more interesting business and econ reading. Mark your calendars: The Carnival of the Capitalists will be hosted here at

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1098063697918549402004-10-18T11:30:00.000+10:002004-10-18T11:53:52.523+10:00

I just got done installing a new commenting system, to replace Haloscan. I installed the Metempsychosis Comments Hack and the Farrago Recent Comments Hack, both from BloggerHacks. It takes Blogger's commenting system, and modifies it to allow people to make comments with their name on it without registering. The comments are also permanent, unlike Haloscan comments, which disappear after a few

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com85tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097796497231577782004-10-18T07:41:00.000+10:002004-10-22T13:34:38.080+10:00

McDonald's has a lot to be happy about. Their quarterly earnings report Wednesday beat analyst expectations by a whopping 42%. This coming week's issue of The Economist has an excellent in-depth article detailing the strategy that McDonald's used to weather the storms that it's been through, and how the company has fundamentally changed its course. This gives you an idea of where they were

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com131tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097971755408344322004-10-17T09:51:00.000+10:002004-10-17T12:05:53.686+10:00

New York Times Media Attention on Saturday, October 16, 2004 Available on a daily basis for AltaVista, Daypop, BBC, Blogpulse, CNN, Google News, New York Post, New York Times, Reuters, and the Washington Post. There are also views showing how much media attention a country gets relative to its population, and also relative to its GDP. It's fascinating to look at the differences between

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097791089022387472004-10-15T07:57:00.000+10:002004-10-15T07:59:38.763+10:00

Today I happened upon the biggest treasure trove of economics jokes imaginable (32 printed pages!). Here's just one of the gems: Top Ten Economist Valentines 10. You raise my interest rate thirty basis points without a corresponding dropoff in consumer enthusiasm 9. Despite a decade of inflation, I still dig your supply curve 8. What do you say we remeasure our cross-elasticity 7. You bring the

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097724489926980842004-10-14T12:28:00.000+10:002004-10-21T14:33:53.916+10:00

Over at Mahalanobis, Michael Stastny has an image of air pollution around the world, and points out some interesting things. (full article here) The map, based on 18 months' worth of satellite data, shows very high levels of NO2 [AC: not N2O] above major European and North American cities and across much of north-east China. South-east Asia and Africa also have raised concentrations of the gas

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com102tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097635423302843952004-10-13T12:04:00.000+10:002004-10-13T12:54:52.690+10:00

My mother is currently working on Princess cruise ships, teaching classes to passengers onboard. She has quite a bit of free time, and so she gets to enjoy all of the luxury amenities and gets to hang out in port just like a passenger. She's having the time of her life, and absolutely loves it. Anyway, she passed this on to me. The company she works for urgently needs someone with expertise in "

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097555478613882722004-10-12T15:23:00.000+10:002004-10-12T14:34:38.526+10:00

Many people already travel to India for rejuvenating treatments such as yoga and ayurvedic massage, but now they're going for heart by-pass surgery as well. The Economist has an interesting article about the outsourcing of medical treatment to India. It looks at how specially equipped state-of-the-art hospitals, such as the Apollo hospital in Chennai, have been sub-contracting work from

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com147tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097548809197593722004-10-12T13:17:00.000+10:002004-10-13T13:40:04.876+10:00

Robb Willer, Asst. Director of the Sociology and Small Groups Laboratory at Cornell and a Sociology PhD candidate at Cornell, just had this paper published in Current Research In Social Psychology (CRISP -- who said Sociologists don't have a sense of humor?). It found that when the President issues a terror alert, his approval rating increases an average of 2.75 points the following week: This

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097451735599397832004-10-11T09:34:00.000+10:002004-10-11T10:54:14.863+10:00

The Australian job search site MyCareer.com.au has an excellent marketing campaign going on. I just saw it today, when it's a bit out of date, but it's extremely clever. I'll quote it below, in case they take it down now that the election is over, but you really should go to the site itself to get the full effect. URGENT- MATTER OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE * Leader of Our Great Country * National

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097399312643047332004-10-10T18:59:00.000+10:002004-10-12T14:40:12.746+10:00

The verdict is in. Prime Minister John Howard and the Coalition have swept back into power with a resounding win in the Federal election. Pundits had been tipping a tight election, but in the end, Howard managed quite a comfortable victory with a swing of about 2 %. Some of the new additions to the House of Representatives this year are millionaire businessman Malcolm Turnbull who has secured

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097384994606846362004-10-10T13:11:00.000+10:002004-10-10T15:35:21.980+10:00

Seeking Alpha links to a recent essay by Bill Gross, founder and Chief Investment Officer of investment firm Pimco. This is a guy whose opinion carries a lot of weight. His October Investment Outlook argues that government statistics are a "con job": they under-estimate the current inflation rate by about 1% and over-estimate real GDP growth by 1%. According to Gross, this explains why consumers

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097359905985257672004-10-10T04:32:00.000+10:002005-04-17T07:25:21.170+10:00

College sports are huge in the US, and in many cases they're more popular than even professional sports. Many universities lavish ungodly sums upon their sports programs, and will use unsavory tactics to try to attract recruits (Harvard's alumni magazine had a good article a while back about how athletic recruiting is changing the face of sports even in the Ivy League, where athletic

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com146tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097313795710041322004-10-09T18:57:00.000+10:002004-10-11T12:29:49.523+10:00

As I was fulfilling my civic duty at the ballot box today, I couldn't help but laugh out loud upon reading the list of parties running for election in the Senate. Some of them are a little wacky, others are downright hilarious. For those of you non-Aussies reading this, here are a few of the notables that appeared on The Tablecloth (aka the ridiculously huge senate ballot form): The Great

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097280326650783122004-10-09T10:01:00.000+10:002004-10-11T12:25:38.100+10:00

For most of us, it's practically a fact of life that bread always falls buttered side down and the traffic's always worse when you're running late for work. But now, scientist have come up with a mathematical formula proving that anything that can go wrong, really will go wrong. A panel of experts commissioned by British Gas has come up with a statistical rule for predicting Murphy's Law.

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097022983874446592004-10-06T10:27:00.000+10:002004-10-09T13:53:27.400+10:00

With just a handful days until Australia's October 9 Federal Election and most of the campaign policies on the table, many Australians have been left wondering, "what's in it for me?". Key issues such as National Security seem to be playing only a minor role in campaigning. While the Iraq War threatens to quash US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Australia's PM, John

Reena Gangahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13866998340818442860noreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096784261771603732004-10-05T12:45:00.000+10:002004-10-05T12:47:49.166+10:00

Silviu Dochia over at The Corner Solution has a good post on the economics of terrorism. He looks at the scholarly work that has been done on the subject, and concludes that you can think about a "supply" and "demand" for terrorism. The "demand" is fueled by Hatred, and strategies to stem terrorism should be focused on reducing that demand. Supply-side strategies are unlikely to be successful on

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096857447902567852004-10-04T12:33:00.000+10:002004-10-09T13:57:03.380+10:00

Brazil has been resisting IAEA inspections of its nuclear facilities. Is there something to hide? RIO DE JANEIRO: The Brazilian government has denied allegations that it obtained its centrifugal plans for uranium enrichment from a clandestine nuclear network headed by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The Brazilian navy, which began the nuclear programme in the 1980s, denied "any type of

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com58tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096849593076632442004-10-04T11:42:00.000+10:002004-10-10T15:15:34.293+10:00

The New York City meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Pervez Musharraf went rather well: India and Pakistan are both masters of the defensive game and could go on for years in talks characterised by more activity than movement. Both India and Pakistan have concluded that their interests are served better by talking than by maintaining a hard line. The

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096854872431982462004-10-04T10:04:00.000+10:002004-10-04T12:15:09.830+10:00

The US Postal Service has decided to stop allowing people to create custom postage stamps, despite its wide success. Why? Well, there are just some people you don't want on a postage stamp: About 100,000 sheets, or 2 million individual stamps, were ordered since the service was launched seven weeks ago, the company said. The service ran into trouble, however, when pranksters got a little

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096662524236035142004-10-02T06:43:00.000+10:002004-10-09T14:03:36.836+10:00

Michael links to an article in The Economist about Europe's huge demographic problem: Americans have long seen Europe as the old world. Now they have another reason to count the difference. Europe is ageing much faster than the new world. The old world faces a daunting demographic challenge. This year's expansion of the European Union from 15 to 25 countries increases its population from 380m to

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096569577447313422004-10-01T13:39:00.000+10:002004-10-10T15:22:49.583+10:00

The Economist has a lengthy feature on one of the big things holding back Japan's recovery: a distinct lack of failure. That's right, a lack of failure. A key insight of Economics is that in order to facilitate success, you have to allow failure. If people/firms do not have to pay the consequences for their actions, they won't have the proper incentives to behave as they should. They will

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096517375285385362004-09-30T10:36:00.000+10:002004-12-23T12:26:20.106+11:00

McDonald's has decided that the best way to build their brand with the US Latino market is through... graffiti. My first reaction was, "what?! Isn't that a bit... insulting?" "We wanted something [that reflects] the lifestyle of the Hispanic consumer," says Ken Ebo, the chain's regional marketing director. Wow. That seems like some pretty strong negative stereotyping, and you wouldn't think it

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com141tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096517113264818102004-09-28T11:36:00.000+10:002004-10-07T09:39:24.096+10:00

Aside from helping you to avoid these glaring economic mistakes, studying Economics will also help you make a lot of money. Business administration and economics/finance graduates received a 6.2 percent and a 3 percent boost in average pay to $38,254 and $40,630, respectively. The average starting salary for marketing grads jumped 2 percent to $34,712 and 1 percent to $41,058 for accounting

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com41tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096516950039869612004-09-28T10:37:00.000+10:002004-10-01T06:08:18.423+10:00

The Economist's Technology Quarterly supplement last week had an article about how more and more companies are "outsourcing" tasks to... their customers. The article caught the attention of Michael as well as others, and I think it's a useful analogy for use in discussions about outsourcing. Fast Company Now brings us some great examples of just how far vending machines can go. As is commonly

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1096516206232996792004-09-27T09:45:00.000+10:002004-09-30T14:37:05.580+10:00

From an excellent article in September's issue of the Harvard Business Review: In 2002, we carried out a two-stage research project in partnership with the market research company Research International/USA to find out how consumers in different countries value global brands. First, we conducted a qualitative study in forty-one countries to identify the key characteristics that people associate

Adam Crouchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09954899299332199063noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8531615.post-1097298950045259642004-09-25T15:16:00.000+10:002005-07-30T14:18:28.930+10:00

Key stats:Location: Sydney, AustraliaOccupation: Assistant Marketing Manager at a major international company (a Top 20 Global Brand)Education: Economics degree from Cornell UniversityI am immersed in my sector's business strategy at work, but I view this blog as a forum for me to explore issues facing other industries, as well as businesses in general. It also enables me to delve into the other

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