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Are we entering a post-dollar world?

Are we entering a post-dollar world?

The U.S. dollar reigns supreme among all currencies in global trade and finance.

What does this mean? Only that the dollar is the currency of choice for most economic activities conducted around the world, including those by and between non-U.S. entities. For instance:

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Who’s to blame for inflation?

Who’s to blame for inflation?

I posted something on Twitter last Sunday that I didn’t think particularly novel or controversial but that has since gotten a lot of play:

Now, many folks missed the point of the tweet and instead took issue with me calling the U.S. government “left,” which I agree it isn’t really when you consider the policies and worldview President Biden espouses. Looked from, say, Europe, Biden is a centrist or even center-right. In fact, from a global perspective, the entire U.S. political spectrum—including most Democrats—sits on the right.

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Dispatch from Davos

Dispatch from Davos

Economic Forum (WEF). This is the first time the annual gathering of world leaders, CEOs, and public figures takes place in the spring (no snow boots!), courtesy of Omicron. It’s also the first in-person forum since the pandemic hit in January 2020, and it couldn’t be happening at a more critical moment for the world.

Indeed, the theme of this year’s meeting is “History at a Turning Point,” and what a turning point it is. From Covid-19, climate change, digitalization, and deglobalization to the war in Ukraine, slowing global growth, surging energy prices, and a looming food crisis, this is the most crisis-rich backdrop to a World Economic Forum I’ve ever seen.

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An employee of the food delivery service Gorillas cycles through the streets of Berlin.

Wolfgang Kumm/DPA

What We're Watching: Gorillas in the gig economy & work struggles for the "sandwich generation"

Gorilla unicorn to gig goat: a cautionary tale. Last year, a new Berlin-based food delivery company called Gorillas was going bananas. With its minimal branding, pro-biker vibes, and good service, the company became the first German tech “unicorn,” meaning it raised enough capital to be valued at more than a $1 billion dollars. But then the wheels came off as its gig workers, angry about late payments and poor working conditions, tried to organize in protest, and hundreds were fired. The company continues to function, but it recently set up its holding company in the Netherlands. The tale of Gorillas is both an inspiring and cautionary one. Over the past 10 years, gig work, facilitated by new technology platforms — think Uber, Seamless, Fiver, etc — has grown rapidly. Close to 30 million Europeans secure work through digital platforms, and the EU says that could rise to 43 million by 2025. In the US, one in 10 American adults relied primarily on “on demand” work as of 2020. This has vastly expanded opportunities for employment and broadened companies’ ability to source talent and skills on demand. But that flexibility comes at a cost for employees, who lack the workplace protections and benefits normally associated with full- or part-time work. Policymakers are still trying to balance the pros of flexibility with the cons of “precarity.” The EU is leading the legislative charge on this, with a sweeping set of reforms that would force gig platforms to classify their workers as employees and give them more bargaining rights. Supporters say it will boost the gig economy to a fairer footing, while critics worry it will make them less efficient and more expensive.

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A U.S. one dollar banknote is seen next to Turkish lira banknotes.

REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkey's inflation, Chinese loans, Nigerian oil spill, deadly cocaine

49: Turkey recorded an annual inflation rate of almost 49%, a 20-year-high, on Thursday. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has said soaring inflation would be temporary, continues to prioritize exports and remains opposed to interest rate hikes. Turkey’s Central Bank meets on Feb. 17 to discuss interest rates but is not expected to change course.

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Minouche Shafik: Keeping Talented Women Working is Good for the Economy | GZERO Media

Minouche Shafik: Keeping talented women working is good for the economy

More women are now going to college than men, but much of that talent later goes to waste. Why? For London School of Economics Director Minouche Shafik, the problem is that we don't have systems in place to retain talented women in the workforce in crisis situations like the pandemic, when so many women had to quit their jobs and stay home to take care of their kids. "The talent of all of those women is a huge potential economic gain to our societies," she explains, so we need to find a way to better match them to (remote) jobs that suit their skills. "This is not just about inequality story; this is really an economic efficiency story as well."

She spoke during "Measuring what matters: How women are critical to pandemic recovery," a livestream conversation on October 28, 2021, hosted by GZERO Media in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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