The Londoner

  Australia's central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3%, as it looks to counter a slowdown in its mining sector. It has also been struggling with a stubbornly strong Australian dollar. A rate cut usually weakens a currency. The rate cut is the second since October and came after the Reserve Bank of Australia's monthly policy meeting. Australia's cost of borrowing is now at the same level it was during the global financial crisis of 2009. The Australian dollar was little changed on the news, while the main Sydney stock exchange was down slightly. Mining slowdown Analysts said that as the mining boom starts to run out of steam, the other sectors of the economy will have to take over and drive growth. "The urgency to actually find a replacement for mining investment has become quite acute," said Brian Redican of Macquarie Bank. Mr Redican said more action will b

According to the economist Daron Acemoglu and the political scientist James Robinson, economic development hinges on a single factor: a country's political institutions. More specifically, as they explain in their new book, Why Nations Fail , it depends on the existence of "inclusive" political institutions, defined as pluralistic systems that protect individual rights. These, in turn, give rise to inclusive economic institutions, which secure private property and encourage entrepreneurship. The long-term result is higher incomes and improved human welfare. What Acemoglu and Robinson call "extractive" political institutions, in contrast, place power in the hands of a few and beget extractive economic institutions, which feature unfair regulations and high barriers to entry into markets. Designed to enrich a small elite, these institutions inhibit economic progress for everyone else. The broad hypothesis of Why Nations Fail is that governments tha

Can the annual conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ( COP-18 ) – under way in Doha – be a forum for meaningful action? A global roundup of experts tackles some of the thorniest questions. Simon Dalby of Canada's Balsillie School of International Affairs says steep challenges remain in reaching a global treaty, but better results could come from joint ventures among non-state actors. Susanne Droege of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs says Doha could be a venue for more bilateral and sector-related cooperation. Artur Gradziuk of the Polish Institute of International Affairs says negotiators should focus on creating a "smart work program" that lays the groundwork for future talks. At New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research, Navroz K. Dubash also zeroes in on procedural issues and the importance of what he calls "incremental trust building." Yu Hongyuan of the Shanghai Institutes for International S

DALLAS — The Preston Hollow neighborhood has been home to many of Texas’ rich and powerful — George and Laura Bush, Mark Cuban, T. Boone Pickens, Ross Perot. So it is hardly surprising that a recent political fund-raiser was held there on the back terrace of a 20,000-square-foot home overlooking lush gardens with life-size bronze statues of the host’s daughters. The guest of honor was Gov. Rick Perry , but the man behind the event was not one of the enclave’s boldface names. He was a tax consultant named G. Brint Ryan. Mr. Ryan’s specialty is helping clients like ExxonMobil and Neiman Marcus secure state and local tax breaks and other business incentives. It is a good line of work in Texas. Under Mr. Perry, Texas gives out more of the incentives than any other state, around $19 billion a year, an examination by The New York Times has found. Texas justifies its largess by pointing out that it is home to half of all the private sector jobs cr

Why the growing cities of the developing world need New York–style street grids I n 1810, most of New York City’s 96,000 residents lived on the southern end of Manhattan. A year later, a three-man commission published what must have seemed a wildly ambitious plan for the city’s expansion. Anticipating a population of 400,000 by 1860, the commissioners’ plan covered nearly the whole island in a now-famous rectilinear street grid, a design meant to make new construction as affordable and convenient as possible. In fact, the commissioners weren’t ambitious enough. By 1860, New Yorkers numbered nearly 814,000; by 1900, the city’s population of 1.65 million had occupied the commissioners’ entire grid. In his new book, Planet of Cities , my colleague Shlomo Angel argues that our urbanizing world needs a fresh dose of the commissioners’ audacity. Over the next 40 years, the United Nations expects the world’s cities to grow by roughly 2.7 billion residents, with nearly all

The world economic downturn and upheaval in the Arab world might grab headlines, but another big problem looms: environmental change. Along with extreme weather patterns, rising sea levels, and other natural hazards, global warming disrupts freshwater resource availability -- with immense social and political implications. Earlier this year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a report, Global Water Security , assessing hydropolitics around the world. In it, the authors show that international water disputes will affect not only the security interests of riparian states, but also of the United States.  In many parts of the world, freshwater is already a scarce resource. It constitutes only 2.5 percent of all available water on the planet. And only about .4 percent of that is easily accessible for human consumption. Of that tiny amount, a decreasing share is potable because of pollution and agricultural and industrial water use

While China’s rather gentle slowdown is coming to an end, there remains the problem of finding a sustainable growth model. By David Turner Thursday saw a palpable sense of relief in global markets that China’s rather gentle slowdown is coming to an end.  Gross domestic product (GDP) growth fell 0.2 percentage points to 7.4 percent year on year in the third-quarter — the slowest pace in three years. However, Zhiwei Zhang, China economist at Nomura in Hong Kong, said, “The September data indicates economic momentum has picked up strongly compared with July and August.” He added that the September numbers “reinforce our view that growth will rebound sharply in Q4.” Industrial production growth accelerated by 0.3 percentage points to 9.2 percent in September. Growth in fixed-asse