Today is the 10th anniversary of the agreement that launched the single currency. However, residents of the first 12 EU states that adopted the Euro didn’t begin using Euro banknotes and coins until 1 January, 2002.
When the euro was launched there were plenty of people who thought it would crash and burn. Ten years on, its role as a global currency is secure, even if it hasn’t achieved everything its founders hoped such as higher living standards (per capita income) and less divergence between national economies. But it has achieved macroeconomic stability and financial stability when reflecting to the recent credit crunch.
There are now 15 European countries who are members of the Eurozone, with a common currency, the Euro, and a single interest rate set by the European Central Bank (ECB). They make up 72% of the EU’s GDP. Click here for the Eurozone in figures.
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The International Monetary Fund has come out with its latest set of forecasts of the world economy. The report says at one point:
“The IMF staff now sees a 25 percent chance that global growth will drop to 3 percent or less in 2008 and 2009—equivalent to a global recession.”
Since when is 3% growth equivalent to a “global recession”? According to my textbook, periods of negative GDP growth are called recessions.
By this “new’ definition, the world economy has been in recession 1980-83, 1990-93, 1998, and 2001-2002. In other words, 11 out of the last 28 years. There are no negative years of world growth.
Here are the IMF’s latest world growth numbers, and forecasts out to 2013.
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On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, a new report from Oil Change International, entitled A Climate of War (pdf) quantifies both the greenhouse gas emissions of the Iraq War and the opportunity costs involved in fighting war rather than climate change. At the webpage A Climate of War at oil Change you can find some facts on the war and warming.
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Dutch designer Greetje van Tiem (Graduate Design Academy Eindhoven) has an intriguing idea.
Turning old newspapers into yarn that can be woven into carpets, curtains and upholstery. A great example of maximising value!
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Business 2.0 has identified 15 companies as true gamechangers for the upcoming years. These game-changing startups are likely to upend existing industries - and spawn new entrepreneurial opportunities into the business community.
The 15 startups can be categorised into four spheres: Social Media, Hi-Tech, Energy, and Business Services. A slideshow on all 15 startups can be found here and you can read the full backgrounder here.
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UBS AG together with Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are the top three losers of the US subprime mortgage crisis, together they wrote down US$106 billion to date.
During UBS’ annual meeting on Wednesday April 23rd in Basel, shareholders were asking just one question: How did UBS manage to lose $37 billion betting on American mortgage-backed assets, battering its core capital and share price in the process?
The UBS internal investigation report on the write-downs gives three broad explanations for the bank’s woes. The investment-banking arm’s preoccupation with growth, the reliance of the control team on flawed measures of risk, and the culture of the bank. A more detailed explanation on all three causes can be found here. The credit squeeze is graphically explained by the Financial Times here and by the BBC here.
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Always been looking for the next big thing? Please keep an eye on The New Disruptors - A video series written and produced by Business 2.0 Editor-at-large Erick Schonfeld in conjunction with CNN.
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Now is your chance! If you want to live the “O.C” lifestyle but don’t have the O.C. bucks, here’s your chance.
Despite its glamorous reputation as the place where great wealth meets great tans, Orange County, California, is ground zero for the housing bust.
Today there are more than 3.300 foreclosures in the area which makes it a great bargain, especially for Europeans with the weak US dollar. BusinessWeek listed the most expensive foreclosed properties coming to auction here. For a detailed report on The Other Orange Country you can follow this link.
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Onitsuka Tiger, the Japanese sports brand, launched a sneaker vending machine on Carnaby Street today. Sneaker vending isn’t entirely new-it’s been done in Japan, off course, by Reebok. Onitsuka Tiger, on the other hand, put some effort into custom-building their machine, which can sell 24 pairs of shoes at a time, in 6 sizes.
Following its London debut, the machine will travel across the UK to bring convenience-buying to the rest of Britain. Fun bit of brand promotion; “What, these shoes? I just got them from a vending machine down the street.” Nevertheless, other unconventional vending machines have been reported in the past such as machines that vend umbrellas and hair straighteners.
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Today is the 10th anniversary of the agreement that launched the single currency. However, residents of the first 12 EU states that adopted the Euro didn’t begin using Euro banknotes and coins until 1 January, 2002.
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