Hard Bases of China’s Soft Power

THERE is currently much discussion in China about "soft power," and I follow this discussion with great interest as a marketing professional and a lay observer. Here I would like to express my opinion in a professional sense. I was in charge of marketing and branding London for eight years, from 2000 to 2008. During that period the success of our work was recognized by international surveys that fre- quently ranked London as the world’s number one city.     

MOTHERHOOD AND CRIMINAL DESISTANCE IN DISADVANTAGED NEIGHBORHOODS*

Evidence from several qualitative studies has suggested that the transition to motherhood has strong inhibitory effects on the delinquency and drug use trajectories of poor women. Quantitative studies, however, typically have failed to find significant parenthood or motherhood effects. We argue that the latter research typically has not examined motherhood in disadvantaged settings or applied the appropriate statistical method. Focusing on within-individual change, we test the motherhood hypothesis using data from a 10-year longitudinal study of more than 500 women living in disadvantaged Denver communities. We find that the transition to motherhood is associated significantly with reductions in delinquency, marijuana, and alcohol behaviors. Moreover, we find that the effect of motherhood is larger than that of marriage for all outcomes. These results support the qualitative findings and suggest that the transition to motherhood—and not marriage—is the primary turning point for disadvantaged women to exit delinquent and drug-using trajectories.     

Key Issues for Asia’s Growth

THE overall global context of Asia＇s economic growth in 20a3 remains negative, particularly in developed economies. At the end of last year Japan＇s GDP was 1.7 percent below its maxi- mmn prior to the international financial crisis, while GDP in the European Union was 9.1 percent below. U.S. GDP growth is ane- mic, having reached only 2.5 percent above its last peak five years ago. Some of the pre- viously dynamic BRICS economies are also encountering problems - India＇s annual GDP growth has fallen to 4.5 percent and Brazil＇s to 1.4 percent. World commodity prices,     

Structured to Survive

THE International Monetary Fund’s recent meeting in Tokyo focused on the continuing deterioration of the global economy. In the second quarter of 2012, G7 economies registered mere 0.1 percent growth on average, while EU output contracted.     

Why FDI into China Outperformed the World

WORLD foreign direct investment (FDI) fell significantly in 2012. Global data are unavailable for the second half of the year, but United Nations Conference on Trade and Development statistics show that FDI fell by eight percent worldwide in the first six months to US $668 billion. Many large economies suffered severe declines-FDI into the U.S. fell by 39 percent and into     

The New Realities of China-U.K. Relations

BRITAIN＇s Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne concluded substantive economic agreements with China during his October visit to Beijing. They include giving London-based financial institu- tions the right to invest up to RMB 80 billion （US $13 billion） in Chinese securities. Chinese banks will also be permitted to set up wholesale banking branches, rather than just subsidiary companies, in London. This will enable them to tap their huge parent banks＇ financial standing to meet capitalization and reserve requirements. Owing to previous restrictions, Chinese banks had preferred to base their European operations in Luxembourg rather than London.     

Time to Tolk of Slowdown

THE recent publication of America＇s second quarter GDP data, following that for China, makes it possible to accurately compare the recent performance of the world＇s two largest economies and the results are extremely striking. In the last year the slowdown in the U.S. economy has been far more serious than in China. Therefore while both economies are being adversely affected by current negative trends in the world economy, China is dealing with these much more successfully than the U.S. In light of media discussion about China＇s economic ＂slowdown＂ it is equally important that attention is paid to understanding why the U.S.＇s own economic slowdown is much worse than China＇s when confronted with similar global economic trends.