The Return of China – WSJ.com
The WSJ has been running many pieces lately on China and the global economy. The latest from Niall Ferguson argues that we are in the midst of the reordering of the global balance of power from West to East.
It was the understated but unmistakable self-confidence of the economists I met that told me something had changed in relations between China and the West.
One of them, Cheng Siwei, explained over dinner China’s plan to become a leader in green energy technology. Between swigs of rice wine, Xia Bin, an adviser to the People’s Bank of China, outlined the need for a thorough privatization program, “including even the Great Hall of the People.” And in faultless English, David Li of Tsinghua University confessed his dissatisfaction with the quality of Chinese Ph.D.s.
You could not ask for smarter people with whom to discuss the two most interesting questions in economic history today: Why did the West come to dominate not only China but the rest of the world in the five centuries after the Forbidden City was built? And is that period of Western dominance now finally coming to an end?
Later Ferguson points to 6 ‘killer applications’ that the west used to vault ahead — from the introduction of competition to the rule of law and modern medicine. There is a lot more in the piece, including projections on various shifts, including energy consumption, trade, and patents, that highlight the world’s reordering.
The piece is interesting and we look forward to reading Ferguson’s upcoming book “Civilizations: The West and the Rest”
Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index in WSJ
Zoltan Acs and Laszlo Szerb’s work on the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index for the Small Business Administration is covered by Jeff May in the Wall Street Journal:
What’s more, some emerging-markets powerhouses like China, Russia, Brazil and India, as well as nations like Chile and the Czech Republic, are due for big improvements, says Zoltan Acs, a Small Business Administration economist and co-author of the agency’s study of entrepreneurial performance around the world. China, for instance, ranks as just the 40th best place in the world to start a company. Yet China and its up-and-coming peers score high on forward-looking measures like expectations for job creation—so they’re likely to catch up fast with more-advanced economies.
You can download a pdf copy of “Global Entrepreneurship and the United States” from the SBA’s Office of Advocacy.
Zoltan Acs on Jim Blasingame’s Small Business Radio
Zoltan Acs was interviewed by Jim Blasingame’s Small Business Radio while he was in Lyon for the World Entrepreneurship Forum.
From Blasingame’s website (where you can listen to and download clips of the interview).
Why are entrepreneurs modern-day Jedi warriors? Zoltan Acs joins Jim Blasingame to discuss the new Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index and compare entrepreneurs to Star Wars’ Jedi warriors, plus why Jim’s prophecy is coming true: the 21st century is the Century of the Entrepreneur.
Small Business Radio on Entrepreneurs are modern-day Jedi warriors with Zoltan Acs.
Why is America Rich Wonders The Economist
Our friend, @Richard Florida alerted us to an interesting piece on the Economist Growth blog wondering why America is so rich. Many of the important variables we include in the Global Entrepreneurship & Development Index are discussed.
ECONOMIC gloom and doom aside, America remains the world’s richest large country. It’s generally estimated to have a per capita GDP level around $45,000, while the richest European nations manage only a $40,000 or so per capita GDP (setting aside low population, oil-rich states like Norway). Wealth underlies America’s sense of itself as a special country, and it’s also cited as evidence that America is better than other economies on a range of variables, from economic freedom to optimism to business savvy to work ethic.
The piece discusses various measurements, including the Human Development Index, and the challenges and opportunities is comparing societies and economies. Another snippet:
The economic geography of the world is lumpy, and talent likes to clump together into centres of innovation. Through fortune and foresight, America managed to develop world-leading centres of talent in places like Silicon Valley, Boston, and New York. Relatively open immigration rules and the promise of a safe harbour for war refugees, including persecuted Jews, helped build these knowledge centres. When one combines that innovative capacity with a system that makes it relatively easy to develop ideas and relatively lucrative to exploit them economically, the potential is there for rapid and sustained growth.
America does seem to be special in important ways, but it’s not always clear what those ways are. A liberal economic order and geographically mobile population are important, but so is the level of education, the promise of social mobility, and the openness of America’s borders. It’s worth keeping all of that in mind as the country’s leaders think about the ways economic policy should change in the wake of the Great Recession.
Finntastico! blog: World Entrepreneurship Forum 2010
Our Finnish social entrepreneur friend Finntastico has some great blog posts with many pictures and valuable links from all three days of the World Economic Forum. Here is a snippet from his day 2:
Did you know that the word ‘entrepreneur’ was apparently coined by the French in the beginning of the 19th Century? Well I didn’t. And last night upon receiving her award, the French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde informed us in her video address that Lyon was also the entrepreneurial hub of France with the most entrepreneurs (or was it new ones?) so it seems all the more appropriate for us to be here in Lyon discussing entrepreneurship.
It’s afternoon now as I’m logging into my blog to post yet another update — although it feels more like night already as we’ve had an early start: 7:30AM the buses picked us up from our hotel and took us to the EMLYON Business School. It seemed like a natural outing considering that the Business School is one of the Forum’s co-founders along with KPMG.
So off we went and showed up at the Business School feeling pretty tired in desperate need of coffee. As the organisers are looking after us well, there was a second breakfast available upon arrival to the Business School. Needless to say, I never had the time to manage to munch up my scrambled eggs at the hotel so I was a happy bunny.
Here are his entries from Day 1 and Day 3.
via Finntastico! blog: Day 2 of the World Entrepreneurship Forum 2010: at EMLYON Business School.
World Entrepreneurship Forum 2010 Opening Session
An excellent 13 minute video of highlights from the opening session at the World Entrepreneurship Forum in Lyon, France. Great organization building a great network for social and economic improvements in the developed and developing world. More to come in future posts.
Welcome to the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute
Our ideals are rooted in three core beliefs:
We believe that ideas are important and that the best ideas are born in an environment in which passionate people come together to share and contribute to a common purpose. We believe that entrepreneurship and innovation are vital to developing sustainable, enduring economic growth and prosperity. We believe that all people across the globe should have the opportunity to pursue their creative talents and entrepreneurial spirit.
Our vision for GEDI is to be the premier international organization for entrepreneurship and development – an institution where global leaders from diverse social sectors convene to study, debate and advance the ideas that will drive the world’s economies and inspire tomorrow’s entrepreneurs.
Global Entrepreneurship & Development Institute 