A roundup of the best economic posts on the Web
Can Detroit find the road forward?
Harvard's Ed Glaeser looks at the reasons behind Detroit's rise to one of the world's richest cities in the 1950s and its decent into urban decay in the past 30 years - and what it needs to do to reverse its fortunes:
"Cities work best when they are filled with smart people and small companies that innovate by exchanging ideas. ... Part of Ford's genius was that he was able to provide high wage jobs for less-educated workers; this helped turn Detroit into a city with too few nonautomotive skills. ... Detroit's long decades of suffering do seem to have cleared away some intellectual cobwebs and led some people to understand that education, not infrastructure, is the crucial ingredient for urban rebirth."
The Danish armada
Danish shipping giant Maersk has announced it will build the largest container vessels ever to sail the world's oceans:
"The three previous ships whose size exceeded that of these giants were all oil tankers. .... They will carry 18,000 boxes, 2,500 more than the biggest container ship currently in service, which is also operated by Maersk. ...
The new ships will ply the routes between Asia and Europe, so the order is a bet by Maersk that China will prosper long into the future and so will its exports.
Where the livin' is easiest
Vancouver has retained it's top spot in The Economist's ranking of the world's most liveable cities:
"Cities that score best tend to be mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density. This often fosters a broad range of recreational availability without leading to high crime levels or overburdened infrastructure. Seven of the top ten scoring cities are in Australia and Canada, where population densities of 2.88 and 3.40 people per sq km respectively compare with a global (land) average of 45.65 and a US average of 32."
Does female employment raise or lower savings rates?
On Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, Economy Lab regular Frances Woolley wonders if rising female incomes will alter the dynamics of family savings: