Economist, May 23, 2015

choi

(1) American families | Having It All/ Why the best-educated women are opting for more children.
www.economist.com/news/united-st ... t-all-and-then-some
(“A new report from Pew Research Centre, based on an analysis of census data, looked at women who have reached their mid-40s (when the vast majority of women stop having children) over the past two decades. It finds that the proportion of all women who reach that age without ever having a child has fallen, but the decline is sharpest among the best-educated women. In 1944, 35% of women with a doctoral degree aged 40 to 44 were childless; by last year, this had fallen to 20% (see chart)”)

My comment:
(a) View the chart; no need to read the rest of the text.
(b) Gretchen Livingston, Childlessness, Pew Research Center, May 7, 2015.
www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/05/07/childlessness/

(2) South Korea’s orphans | Pity the Children. Once among the biggest sources of infants for international adoption, South Korea is stemming the flow. But at a cost.

(3) The politics of water | Peace Pipe/ Officials plan to pump water from China to its political rival, Taiwan
(“More than 220,000 Chinese tourists visited Kinmen last year to see attractions including anti-landing barriers (pictured below) and concrete bunkers”)

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read (2) or (3). The essence of the quotation is Chinese tourists have to drink, too--overstretching water supply in Kinmen.
(b) For a photo of anti-landing barriers in kinmen, just google the whole term--without quotation marks.

(4) Trees | Deep Roots. Developers raze homes, but preserve trees.
(The capital, Beijing * * * boasts that it has the most trees over a century old of any Chinese cities: more than 40,000, of which more than 6,000 are at least 300 years old. * * * On new roads, traffic has to weave around them. So sacred are old trees that concessions are made for them even when tarmac is laid”)

choi

(5) The issue has a special report: india. View only the charts in two articles within the briefing.
(a) The economy | Uncurl the Body; India needs to learn to trust markets more.
www.economist.com/news/special-r ... ts-more-uncurl-body

My comment:
(i) In the right panel (whose heading is “Manufacturing as % of GDP, 2013”) of the  chart,  
Thailand is slightly ahead of China (which looks like 32%); yet we have not heard of Thailand’s products. So the measure is not necessarily reflective a nation’s might.
(ii) Off hand I can not find Taiwan’s number for manufacturing as % of GDP, though CIA World Factbook has industry--as opposed to manufacturing--as a component of GDP.
(iii) Facts About Manufacturing. Manufacturing Institute, November 2012, at page 13  
www.themanufacturinginstitute.or ... 177207D9FF23C9.ashx
(“Figure 12 Manufacturing Sector's Falling Unit Labor Costs Increase Global Competitiveness [: Taiwan leads the pact, decreasing ~4.4%, 2000-2019.] Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics")
* It means Taiwan was the most efficient in manufacturing in the decade, though Taiwanese complain of stagnant incomes (as a result, I may add).
* China not included in the figure.

(b) The diaspora | The Worldwide Web. India should make more of a valuable asset abroad.
www.economist.com/news/special-r ... broad-worldwide-web

Excerpt in the window of print: Although most of the [India] diaspora are social conservatives, they typically back the democrats

My comment:
(i) The title, The Worldwide Web, alludes to well connected Indians living in India and abroad. The subtitle, should make more of a valuable asset abroad, means India should export more the well educated. And the first paragraph of this article strengthens the view:

“PART OF THE secret of China’s success in the past four decades or so has been the clever use of its diaspora. Chinese manufacturers in Hong Kong who had long supplied American partners moved to the mainland and set up factories. Chinese nationals who succeeded abroad brought home trusted contacts, networks, experience, standards, technology and capital.

(ii) The chart shows Indians are head and shoulders above the rest, when it comes to income and education in America. Surprisingly (to me), not many Filipinos have postgraduate degrees but their “average family income” is second highest (after Indians). I wonder how.  

choi

(6) Philanthropy | Doing Good by Doing Well. Lessons from business for charities
(“Small donors, too, are becoming more discerning in their giving [American donors, large and small wants to make sure their money is well spent: efficiently (not wasted by charities they donate to)]. Together, their contributions [in US] vastly outweigh those of billionaire philanthropists and their foundations: a 2007 study estimated that American households gave at least $60 billion annually to charities focused on the needs of the poor. By comparison, the Gates Foundation made grants totaling $3.9 billion last year”)