Unemployment benefits paid out to unemployed workers vary across OECD countries. Generally countries with socialist form of governments pay generous benefits to the unemployed in order to ensure they do not become destitute and are able to maintain their standard of living. However in order to be afford to liberal benefits these countries tax their …
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The US spends the most on private health insurance of the total current health expenditures next only to South Africa. Compared to the OECD average rate of 6.3% the USA’s private health insurance rate is 35% – nearly six times more than the average. This is because unlike other countries such as France or Germany or …
Emerging equity markets have outperformed developed markets so far this year. Major emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India, etc. are up by double digit percentage points. China is a laggard with the Shanghai Composite down by 13% as of Sept 9th. Despite the strong returns year-to-date emerging markets are still attractive on a valuation basis …
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Is Facebook an emerging markets play? Or put it another way is investing in Facebook a good way to gain exposure to emerging markets? In my view, Facebook is not an emerging markets play. Here is an excerpt from a recent Bloomberg article on this topic: With Facebook Inc.’s user growth in developing countries soaring, mutual funds …
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The percentage of fiber optic connections in total broadband subscriptions in OECD countries is shown in the chart below. Japan, Korea and Lativa top the ranking. Click to enlarge Source: OECD Compared to the top three countries and Scandinavian countries the US has a long way to go in terms of fiber optic penetration.