♦ A recent ECB study asked what effect policy makers’ comments had on euro area sovereign bond yields: the FT’s Michael Steen thinks “it is hard to resist the temptation of wondering whether senior central bankers have heeded the warning.”
♦ The assertiveness of the Gulf petrostate monarchies over Egypt is a sign of their restored political confidence, but such a position is not without its problems, says Michael Peel.
♦ Morocco is cited as a model for Arab monarchies facing demands for democratic change, but critics argue that it illustrates how elites can maintain power behind the scenes.
♦ Foreigners earned less than 1 percent a year investing in Chinese stocks, a sixth of what they would have made owning US Treasury bills. Quartz, however, broke down the components of the stocks: “Companies that cater toward the Chinese consumer, which represent just under 11% of the MSCI and 6% of the HSCE index, tend to be a much more profitable, and they’re better performers than SOEs.” The upshot? China’s population has benefited, even if foreign investers haven’t.
♦ Latvia’s new tax laws mean it could be a “Luxembourg for the poor.”
♦ The custom of forcibly marrying girls off to resolve family and tribal disputes is continuing on an alarming scale across all provinces of Pakistan.
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Smart Reads July 16, 2013
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