A Yemeni man chews qat in the main qat market in Sanaa. Qat, or catha edulis, has become the national pastime in this poor Arab country of 19 million, but many experts say it is ravaging Yemen's frail economy and sucking up precious water.AHMED JADALLAH
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Yemen's bad habit
The Economist on Yemen's losing battle to quash the habit of chewing qat, a narcotic plant that now grows on half of the country's arable land and has spawned an industry that supports 2.5 million people.
Skirmishes continune in the currency war
Naked capitalism has a nice roundup on the state of the global currency battle following Tuesday's IMF report on the state of global finances. Also, a study on VoxEU that suggests a way out for China - a nominal increase in the value in the yuan combined with absorption-increasing policies such as developing human infrastructure.
More pay, less work
The Fraser Institute has picked up an article from the Vancouver Sun that suggests a raise in British Columbia's minimum wage will result in fewer entry level jobs as employers cut back in the face of rising costs.
Closing the output gap
The Washington Post has a nice interactive explainer graphic on the output gap in the United States
The recession's sobering reality
The Wall Street Journal dug through some stats issued by the U.S. Labor Department on Tuesday and discovered that the middle fifth of American households by income cut their average annual spending on alcohol by 20 per cent between 2007 and 2009.