2011年12月25日日曜日

ANSWER The Economist



In our study group (ESG), we have read the Economist for a year. We share ideas and opinions by discussing various topics they have proposed to us. Especially after the disaster in 3.11, they often focus on Japan and its issues. We appreciate their consideration. 
What can we respond to them? Our “ANSWER” project aims to make responses to their articles. This is our responsibility as the ones who live in this front-running country. Join us and send them our ANSWERS.


RULES
1. WRITE responses to picked up articles and SEND them to the editor via e-mail to letters@economist.com
2. The WINNER is the first one whose letter is placed on.


※The Economist has “Letters” section (Letters to the Editor) that introduce responses from readers both in papers and online. 





2011年12月18日日曜日

#2-19 Putin’s Russia [Dec 10th, 2011]

Putin’s Russia [Dec 10th, 2011]
ESG Review 19 season2 last
Saint-Marc Café in Kanda. Dec 18th, 2011 10:00-12:00
Ogawa, Iino, Kurasawa and Sugahara




[Business][Macau’s gambling industry] A window on China
[Business][Biotech patents] Taking it personally
*[Conflict in the Middle East] Nuclear Iran, anxious Israel


(1)  What does an offshore gambling mecca reveal about business in China?
(2)  What do you think of personalized medicine? Do you accept? What will the effect to the industry?
(3)  Do you agree or disagree with patents on ways of diagnosis?
(4)  What is the nuclear weapon for the world’s peace? Why is it the “ultimate weapon”? 

This was the last discussion of 2011.  


2011年12月11日日曜日

#2-18 Africa rising


ESG Review18 Africa Rising
11th Dec, 2011 10:00-12:00 Saint-Marc Café in Kanda
Ogawa, Iino, Ido, Sugahara, Kurasawa and Mizutani






[Leaders] Africa Rising
[Business][Business education] Field of dreams
[Finance & Economics][Bank funding] The dash for cash
Afghanistan and the West


We gathered at Kanda for the first time. Kanda is for me very convenient location because it’s near from my room. And it is also good for us that Kanda on Sunday is quiet because few people come to this place on weekend so we can use enough space in the café. We continued to speak all in English this week. At first we worried that we couldn’t discuss substantial contents in case we don’t use mother tongue but we came to think that we couldn’t tell anything to the people outside Japan if we don’t use English. This is a practice to tell someone what we are thinking now.   


I picked up "The dash for cash". 

Bank funding
The dash for cash
Europe’s troubled banks are running out of money

Why I picked up the article:
Banking system is linked between countries and regions. I’d like to know their current situation to prepare for the worst possible case.

Summary:
European banks are facing with an investor strike so they are putting a halt to new loans and selling and pawning all they can. Unless the investor strike lifts soon, Europe risks a credit crunch. At worst, there may even be bank runs and failures (so we need a more action).

(1) Bank bond markets that provide the longer term and stable funding have frozen up almost completely for European banks.
Shifts from unsecured to secured bonds (which are backed by assets)
Bond sales 17 billion (2011) ⇔ €120 billion(2010)
Links between banks and governments
Now governments are leaning on banks to keep buying their bonds (which is different from 2008)

(2) Short term interbank markets or money markets are also drying up.
American money-market funds, which were a bog source of dollars in European banking system reduced loans 40% over the past six months.
Banks are reluctant to lend to one another except for the shortest possible time, usually overnight.
A ”nightmare scenario”
the trickle of deposit leaking from banks in peripheral countries turns into a full-flood bank run.

(3) A need for more action by central banks
New measures to ease a shortage of dollars in banking system.
Longer term loans by ECB (over one year)
Government guarantee for bank debt



2011年12月4日日曜日

#2-17 Is this really the end? [Dec 4th, 2011]

ESG Review17
December 4th, 2011 10:00-12:00 Ochanomizu New Yorker’s Cafe
Ogawa, Shimada, Iino, Sugahara, Tomozawa, Mizutani and Takase






[Science and technology][Science in Japan] Where rats and robots play
[Climate change] Good news at last?
[Britain][The economy] Autumn leaves falling
[South Asia’s water] Unquenchable Thirst

This week we gather at Ochanomizu for the first time. I chose the place is because it is near from Hongo campus where I went to after the group. 2 new comers joined this week. Mizutani is a colleague of Iino working for an energy industry. He is good at English because he studied for a year in Canada. Takase is a guy who found our group on facebook and approached to join us. He is an enthusiastic person working in IT venture and has bright ideas. Sugahara-san prepared her discussion paper for the first time. She is a professional translator so I asked her to advice us from her professional point of view.

We discussed almost all topics in English for the first time as a trial. Unexpectedly, we could manage our discussions without any troubles or difficulties. We decided to continue this attempt on the next week. Following topics we discussed:


[Science in Japan] 
The Economist says that Japan is a country with one of the most rigit hierarchies in the world. Do you agree with this view?

[Climate change] 
(1) What do you think of this article? Do you think it is trust worthy? (2) If so, how this evidence contributes to the international politics over climate change? Can rich countries justify their regulation towards emerging countries? (3) Also how these evidence influence firm’s behavior?

[The Britain’s economy] 
What are the similarities and differences between situations in Japan and Britain? Japan’s fiscal condition seems worse than Britain. What kind of policy should Japanese government apply?

[South Asia’s water] 
Let’s discuss how to cope with the shortage of water in the world. Is the water terminal survival for us?


After the discussion, we went to eat lunch at Ochanomizu. I frequently came here in my high school days to join a clam school. One of the friends of the clam school is now in America studying in university. She is a hard worker and enthusiastic about her study. Ochanomizu is a place where we got to know how to cultivate ourselves to brighten our life by study.