Why Has America’s Economic Recovery Stalled? - Project Syndicate

Why Has America’s Economic Recovery Stalled? - Project Syndicate: "The United States’ import bill now exceeds $2.4 trillion a year, more than twice that of China and greater than that of the 27 European Union countries combined"

The causes of slow recovery by Martin Feldstein

Google 2.4% Rate Shows How $60 Billion Lost to Tax Loopholes

Google’s income shifting -- involving strategies known to lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich” -- helped reduce its overseas tax rate to 2.4 percent, the lowest of the top five U.S. technology companies by market capitalization

Hong Kong Losing to Shanghai Means Goodbye to Long Lunch - Bloomberg

Hong Kong Losing to Shanghai Means Goodbye to Long Lunch - Bloomberg: "Equities traders in Hong Kong may soon have to say goodbye to lunches of sauted ostrich and crispy pigeon at Michelin-starred restaurants and settle for a sandwich at their desks instead."

FT.com / Technology - Google to map inflation using web data

FT.com / Technology - Google to map inflation using web data: "Google is using its vast database of web shopping data to construct the ‘Google Price Index’ – a daily measure of inflation that could one day provide an alternative to official statistics."

It would be really cool if Google grants open access to the data for researchers.

Ъ - НДС выводят начистоту // Общая задолженность по возмещению налога достигает 20 млрд грн

Ъ - НДС выводят начистоту // Общая задолженность по возмещению налога достигает 20 млрд грн: "Как выяснил Ъ, долг правительства по возмещению НДС намного превышает заявленные 3 млрд грн, просроченные свыше двух месяцев. Общая сумма НДС, подтвержденная проверками, на начало октября составляла 9,1 млрд грн, а проверяются еще 10 млрд грн."

Правительство стало в позу страуса.

balticbusinessnews.com - Ukraine PM invites investments, but has no time for S�rumaa

balticbusinessnews.com - Ukraine PM invites investments, but has no time for Soorumaa: "Mykola Azarov said during his recent visit to Tallinn that Ukraine needs $1 trillion to modernize...

He said that shipbuilding, the aviation industry and the energy sector particularly required investment

Azarov also noted that tax reform was being conducted in Ukraine, and proposed that Estonia invest in Ukraine.

One of Estonia's richest businessmen Urmas Sõõrumaa was disappointed yesterday when Azarov cancelled a breakfast meeting that had been planned for Wednesday. "We had planned to eat breakfast together tomorrow, but this meeting has been cancelled. "

Really unprofessional. I wonder how this 1trln dollar number was taken by Estonians.

Украина стала еще более непривлекательной для инвесторов - ЛІГА.Новости

Украина стала еще более непривлекательной для инвесторов - ЛІГА.Новости: "качественных изменений инвестиционного климата после президентских выборов в Украине не состоялось."

в третьем квартале индекс инвестиционной привлекательности страны снизился с 3,25 до 3,20 по пятибалльной шкале.

Инвесторы отмечают, что улучшилась ситуация с возмещением НДС, тем не менее и дальше ухудшается процесс упрощения таможенных процедур и техническое регулирование. Остальные показатели: реформирование судебной системы, земельная реформа, валютное регулирование - остались на протяжении квартала без изменений.

FT.com / Columnists / Martin Wolf - How to fight the currency wars with stubborn China

FT.com / Columnists / Martin Wolf - How to fight the currency wars with stubborn China: "Has the time for a currency war with China arrived? The answer looks increasingly to be yes."

Martin Wolf is going to war.

Ezra Klein - Infrastructure: The best deal in the economy

Ezra Klein - Infrastructure: The best deal in the economy: "Because of the recession, construction materials are cheap. So, too, is the labor. And your borrowing costs? They've never been lower."

Taking the advice from Klein, Ukraine should also build infrastructure by borrowing from abroad and domestically (this is what the government is doing). It is a gamble, of course, because unlike for US, long-term perspectives of Ukraine as a country and its long-term economic growth are unclear.

Finance for all? Banking structure reform may not be the way | vox - Research-based policy analysis and commentary from leading economists

Finance for all? Banking structure reform may not be the way by Beck and Brown, voxEU|

What really surprised me that in 2006 only 15 percent of Ukrainian households had a bank account. I think that the number is unrealistically low. In Azerbaijan , Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan less than 5 percent of households had a bank account in 2006.

Beck and Brown 2010