Harvard's Center for International Development put together a tool that I think is pretty cool. It's called the Atlas of Economic Complexity. Its goal is to get you to think differently about the economic strategy, policy, and investment opportunities for individual countries.
Each country's profile analyzes its economic dynamics and future growth prospects, including which industries are burgeoning. They made it look pretty as well. If you're curious about specific questions, you can use their exploration function instead.
I enjoy looking at great disruptive companies and great examples of industries that are primed for disruption.
Think about how many companies have failed due to myopia... Radioshack couldn't understand a future where shopping was done online and Kodak didn't think digital cameras would replace good ol' film. Blockbuster couldn't foresee a future where people would want movies in their mailboxes, because "part of the joy is seeing all your options!" They didn't even make it long enough to see "Netflix and Chill" become a thing.
The Taxi industry had been ready for disruption way before Uber came along, yet, Uber may have mismanaged their opportunity. Taxis now have a chance to innovate back.
To run a taxi in New York you need a medallion. There are approximately 13.5 thousand medallions in NYC. In 2013, prices peaked at over 1.3 million dollars for a single medallion.
The medallion system has been broken for a long time. NYC taxis, in particular, were corrupt and the prices of medallions were artificially inflated by Bloomberg and de Blasio, and built on a debt bubble.
Taxis offered mediocre service, high rates due to artificial caps/greed, and often didn't take credit cards.
They didn't adapt and got disrupted. It's an age-old tale. The same tale as Blockbuster or Kodak; companies thinking linearly in an age of exponential change.
Taxi agencies had the infrastructure to edge ridesharing out and adopt friendlier policies but were slow to adopt the apps and convenience that modeled ridesharing.
It's clear that there's an increased demand for rides. Increased demand is likely caused by access in places that didn't previously have enough demand for a full taxi-service. Ridesharing means you can have drivers in small towns, rural areas, etc. Almost all the new demand is being monopolized by ridesharing.
Should it be, though?
Many would argue Uber's model isn't sustainable; neither are many of these gig-based companies like DoorDash. Uber has a product almost everyone uses, no inventory, very little staff, and despite "winning" the race, it lost $370 million in 2018 and $4.5 billion in 2017.
They gained market share by offering lower prices (even at a loss). They also incentivized an army of drivers to join based on flexible hours and side-income.
The road to profitability for these companies is uncertain.
Uber's low prices got it here, but prices have slowly raised, and AB5 in California has passed, though Uber is claiming exemption - it's likely their prices will jump again if forced to comply.
Rideshare companies are trying to convince workers that hour flexibility is worth the non-employee status, but I don't think that has any real basis. Gig workers can't unionize, have little labor protection and don't receive benefits.
The industry is in a period of massive disruption - but taxies have a chance to fight back. As the gig economy becomes regulated, the already defined system may regain an edge.
In the game of disruption, Uber was shortsighted. In the game of knowing their customers, Taxis were shortsighted.
Will taxies see a resurgence as Uber inevitably hikes up rates? Will autonomous fleets put drivers out of business as they will for long-haul freight?
June 6th, 1944 ... the day we stormed the beaches of Normandy. It was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The invasion created a foothold that allowed Allied forces to expand through France.
The memorial in France this year was a particularly touching event with the many surviving World War 2 soldiers being well into their 90s.
"A generation whose unconquerable spirit shaped the post-war world. They didn't boast. They didn't fuss. They served" - Theresa May
A 97-year old veteran paratrooper, Tom Rice, commemorated the day by once again dropping into the field he landed in on that fateful night.
Seems like a friendlier welcome than a sea of German soldiers. As an extra fun fact, Teddy Roosevelt stormed the beaches of Normandy at 56 with a heart condition, arthritis, and a cane. He was the oldest man to take part in the invasion.
Our society is built on the backs of many strong men! I'm thankful for their sacrifices.
Population growth is an interesting measure. Historically, growth has been slow. But something changed that. And the implications are stunning.
Scientists estimate that humans have existed for over 130,000 years. It took until 1804 for us to reach 1 Billion. We doubled that population by 1927 (123 years later), and then doubled it again in only 47 years later (which was 1974).
Early population growth was driven by the agricultural revolution. Since 1804, the industrial revolution, health and safety advances, and technology have radically improved quality of life - spurring comparatively rapid growth.
World population growth rates peaked in the late 1960s and have declined sharply in the past four decades, but we're still on a positive trend. We're expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050, but a lot of that growth comes from developing countries - they also almost exclusively come from urban areas.
Urbanization: Megacities
Since 2014, over 50% of the world's population has lived in urban areas - today it's approximately 55%. That number is growing.
Ironically, as we grow more digitally connected, our world is shrinking and our populations are concentrating.
An interesting consequence of this rapid urbanization and population growth in developing countries has been the increased development of Megacities - defined as cities with populations greater than 10 million. Today, there are 33 megacities - more than triple the number in the 1990s.
This creates a set of interesting opportunities and challenges.
For example, how will these cities deal with infrastructure - sanitation, transportation, etc.
China and the US produce 23.2 trillion and 19.4 trillion respectively; unchallenged powerhouses now. That being said, the global balance of power and population is shifting; and many developing countries (like India) are growing quickly.
It seems likely that with their population growth and maturation as global economies, we'll see a relatively different landscape in 10 years. Will it look like this? Maybe? But Egypt's projected growth of 583% seems a bit beyond normal expectations ... Time will tell!
The Eye was rimmed with fire, but was itself glazed, yellow as a cat's, watchful and intent, and the black slit of its pupil opened on a pit, a window into nothing. - Frodo seeing Sauron through the Mirror of Galadriel in The Fellowship of the Ring
The Event Horizon Telescope just released the first-ever image of a black hole ... specifically a supermassive black hole with a mass 6.5 billion times heavier than our sun. This behemoth of a black hole is over 50 million light-years away in a galaxy we call M87. The little blob (in the picture below) is 25 billion miles across, and the bright part is brighter than all of the billions of other stars in that galaxy combined. To put it in context ... the black hole, shown below, is larger than our entire Solar System.
The image shows a bright ring formed as light bends in the intense gravity around a black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun
In my opinion, the black hole image is even more amazing when you zoom out and see the entire m87 galaxy. The little black dot inside the orange is the black hole.
via NASA/CXC/VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY/J. NEILSEN
To take a step back, a black hole is a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star. It warps spacetime and superheats all surrounding materials.
“In space no one can hear you scream; and in a black hole, no one can see you disappear.” ― Stephen Hawking
Before today, black holes had only been observed indirectly. We had math that "proved it." Now, we have direct, observable, and corroborated evidence for everyone to see.
Do you understand the gravity of that?
In my lifetime, Black holes have gone from a fringe theory to a possibility, to a probability, and now, to reality.
It is amazing to think about how right Einstein's theory of general relativity was ... especially considering that he did the math in 1915, before we had the technology and science to back it up. The basic idea is that the relative velocity of light doesn't change, therefore it must be a constant in our universe. Using his math, we were able to predict how a black hole would "look", and it was supported by the Event Horizon Telescope's image.
Veritasium puts understanding the image into better perspective. Check it out.
For a side note, the first proposal of black holes actually goes back to John Michell in 1784
"If there should really exist in nature any bodies, whose density is not less than that of the sun, and whose diameters are more than 500 times the diameter of the sun, since their light could not arrive at us; or if there should exist any other bodies of a somewhat smaller size, which are not naturally luminous; of the existence of bodies under either of these circumstances, we could have no information from sight; yet, if any other luminous bodies should happen to revolve about them we might still perhaps from the motions of these revolving bodies infer the existence of the central ones with some degree of probability, as this might afford a clue to some of the apparent irregularities of the revolving bodies, which would not be easily explicable on any other hypothesis; but as the consequences of such a supposition are very obvious, and the consideration of them somewhat beside my present purpose, I shall not prosecute them any further."
It took a massive amount of work to produce the photos of the black hole shown in this post. The ingredients: 200 researchers, 20 years, over 9 petabytes of data, 8 telescopes, and immense vision. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it also took the 104 years of research since Einstein's theory.
Here's a TED talk from Dr. Katie Bouman in 2017, about taking a photo of the black hole. Katie went to MIT and led the creation of a new algorithm that helped produced today's image.
In fact, I just hit five million "butt-in-seat" miles on American Airlines.
I don't expect to continue at this place forever ... but now is the time to push.
I have a different workflow when I travel, and it works for me.
Ultimately, I believe that good things happen when you are in motion!
Many people, however, are focused on the hassle.
The practical realities of travel mean I spend some time thinking about the things airlines do well or poorly. Nonetheless, I appreciate the benefits more than the frustrations.
Yes, it is true ... Status means much less today than it used to. Every week it feels like they make the space between seats smaller while the time for finding overhead luggage space gets shorter.
Yet, the planes themselves are getting better. Here, for example, is what an empty 787 looks like.
It looks more like a set from Star Trek then the hellscape passengers complain about on a regular basis.
If you really don't like commercial flying, you can fly on any of the "economical" private options like JetSmarter or WheelsUp. Or, better yet, you could be like this guy and buy the world's only private Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Country Comparisons: Harvard's Economic Dynamics Data-Viz
Harvard's Center for International Development put together a tool that I think is pretty cool. It's called the Atlas of Economic Complexity. Its goal is to get you to think differently about the economic strategy, policy, and investment opportunities for individual countries.
Each country's profile analyzes its economic dynamics and future growth prospects, including which industries are burgeoning. They made it look pretty as well. If you're curious about specific questions, you can use their exploration function instead.
Interesting stuff. Play around. Compare. Enjoy!
Posted at 04:39 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Healthy Lifestyle, Ideas, Market Commentary, Trading Tools, Travel, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
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