Economist, May 16, 2015

choi

(1) Parental leave More Hands to Rock the Cradles; Both parents should be paid to spend time at home with their babies.

the first 1 ½ paragraphs: “In America there is nothing we wouldn’t do for moms--apart from one major thing,’ said John Oliver, a British-born comedian, in his television show, ‘Last Week Tonight [on HBO since April 2014],’ on May 11th (Mother’s Day). The ‘major thing’ he was speaking of is paid maternity leave, which, as he pointed out, is standard in all but two of the 185 countries surveyed by International Labour Organization (ILO): America and Papua New Guinea. In America some women who work for the federal government or larger firms can take 12 weeks’ leave unpaid after giving birth. In a handful of states new mothers get a few weeks at a low wage, funded by a payroll tax. By contrast, in Britain new mothers can take a year off, and during much of it part of their salary is replaced by the government. Sweden grants more than a year’s paid maternity leave--even to women who were not previously employed.  America would do well to take note. Many countries are proud of their maternity leave, and rightly so: the social and economic benefits of making it possible for working mothers to spend time with their newborn are clear.

Note:
(a) Laura Addati, Naomi Cassirer and Katherine Gilchrist, Maternity and Paternity at Work: Law and practice across the world. ILO, 2014 (a book of 193 pages).
www.ilo.org/global/publications/ ... /lang--en/index.htm
(185 countries or territories)
(i) At the bottom of this Web page is a link “Overview of the report” of 16 Web pages.
(ii) Taiwan is not included.

(b) International Labour Organization
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Labour_Organization
(Formation 1919; In 1969, the organization received the Nobel Peace Prize)

choi

(2)
(a) Farm subsidies | Bitter Harvest; A drive for self-sufficiency in food comes at a growing cost.
www.economist.com/news/china/216 ... cost-bitter-harvest

Quote:

"Since a largely man-made famine that started in the late 1950s, in which tens of millions died, China has defied the odds by feeding its people almost entirely on its own. It has provided for a fifth of the world’s population with less than a tenth of its arable land. Now, as middle-class appetites grow, China is past the point of being able to rely on its own farms. In 2011 it became the world’s largest importer of agricultural products, powered by its demand for soybeans, a feedstock for pigs.

"Maintaining self-reliance is expensive. China spent $165 billion on support for farmers in 2012, twice as much as five years earlier and a third more than the European Union, according to the OECD, a rich-world think-tank. It also creates inefficiency. State-set minimum purchase prices for rice, wheat and corn are well above global levels (see next article). This helps to boost production, but it also deters farmers from diversifying into cash crops that would make better use of land resources. The state’s intervention results in thirsty crops such as wheat and corn being widely grown on land where water is scarce. Chemicals used to boost their production pollute water supplies.

"Chinese sugar-cane farms are inefficient, producing less than half the yield of those in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer. Domestically grown sugar costs more than twice as much as international sugar. After factoring in shipping costs and import tariffs of up to 50%, it is still cheaper to buy from abroad—hence the government’s foot-dragging on import approvals, to prevent the local market from being flooded.

Note:
(i) "Chongzuo, China’s 'sugar capital' in Guangxi province"

广西壮族自治区 崇左市  ("1952年8月11日，崇善县与左县合并为崇左县。"  Wikipedia)
(ii) "Officials in the north-east had bought low-quality grain at discounted prices, reporting that they had paid [farmers ostensibly] the higher state-set price for good grain. They pocketed the difference, stuffing the inferior product into the reserves. Such fiddling is thought to be common."

fiddle (vt):
"2:  CHEAT, SWINDLE"
3:  to alter or manipulate deceptively for fraudulent gain <accountants fiddling the books — Stanley Cohen>"
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fiddle


(b) China and global farming | The Wrong Direction; As others cut farm support, China spends more/
www.economist.com/news/china/216 ... ore-wrong-direction

the first 2 ½ paragraphs:

"THE total value of support given by the Chinese government to farmers exceeds that of any other country. In 2012, the most recent year for which comparative data exist, China paid out $165 billion in direct and indirect agricultural subsidies. The next highest totals were those of Japan at $65 billion and America at just over $30 billion, according to research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

"On a relative basis, however, China’s support is more in line with global norms. Subsidies as a share of farm income are about 17%, rapidly catching up with the average for the OECD, a group of wealthier countries. The most lavish spenders include Japan, South Korea and Switzerland, where subsidies account for more than half of farm income.

"More troubling is the trajectory (see chart). Among major emerging markets tracked by the OECD, China is second only to Indonesia in the rate of its subsidy growth. China’s farm support rose from 1.4% of GDP in 1995-97 to 2.3% in 2010-12. It is moving in the opposite direction from developed countries, which are gradually reducing such support.

choi

(3) Italy’s regional divide | A Tale of Two Economies; As the north limps ahead, the south swoons.
www.economist.com/news/finance-a ... -tale-two-economies

My comment: Read the first 1 ½ paragraphs and view the graphic, which shows that Italy’s north has not recovered from financial crisis, judging from economic output (labeled “GDP” in the chart, which I avoid because “domestic” suggests a self-contained economy) and investment.