Monthly Archives: August 2012

World Supply of Biggest Crops Decline and Food Prices Rise

The worst drought in fifty years has caused a decline in the stockpiles of crops such as corn, soybeans, rice and wheat, with the subsequent all-time increase in the prices of corn and soybeans. Good news for commodities investors.

The drought has also affected fuel and power production which, in turn, have a negative effect on food prices. Read more…

  1. Unfavourable weather behind the July rebound of the FAO Food Price Index – FAO Food Price Index [Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations]
  2. America’s disastrous corn harvest will hit world’s poor hardest [The Guardian]
  3. World food prices rising in response to drought damage in the US – Ole Hansen [TradingFloor.com]
  4. Global food reserves falling as drought wilts crops – Tony C. Dreibus and Elizabeth Campbell, Bloomberg [Futures Magazine]
  5. USDA slashes corn yield, production forecast – Bill Tomson [Market Watch]

 

Animated Map Visualizations

You can now explore 11 years worth of changes in the demographic characteristics of all U.S. counties through our animated map visualizations. Try the following indicators:

Africa’s Resource Curse or Blessing

Energy Production for Select African Countries  (1960-2010)

The discovery of resources in developing countries has usually been more of a curse than a blessing for their economies, benefiting certain groups but not most of the population. Will this be the case for some African countries where resources have been recently discovered? Read more below:

  1. Energy Production of Select African Countries [IndexMundi]
  2. From Resource Curse to Blessing – Joseph Stiglitz [Project Syndicate]
  3. Beating the Resource Curse in Africa: A Global Effort – Terra Lawson-Remer and Joshua Greenstein [Council on Foreign Relations]
  4. Can New Oil States in Africa Avoid the ‘Resource Curse?’ Gabe Joselow [Voice of America News]
  5. Africa Must Tap Into Unused Resources – Kibaki – Wambui Ndonga [AllAfrica.com]
  6. Mining could spur Africa’s industrialization, but resource-curse risks persist – Terence Creamer [Engineering News]

The True Size of Africa

true size of africa

Most maps do not show the true size of Africa due to the way they represent the surface of the Earth (a sphere) on a flat surface (the map). To illustrate the point, Kai Krause recently created a map which showed the outlines of other countries crammed inside the outline of the African continent. The Economist created a more accurate version of Krause’s map using a different type of map projection. The results are shown in the image above.

Rare Earth Metals and Their Importance in Today’s Economy

  1. Rare-earth mining in China comes at a heavy cost for local villages [The Guardian]
  2. Rare earth metals: North Korea’s new trump card [The Korea Herald]
  3. EU Fights to Catch Chinese in Greenland Rare-earths Gold Rush – Agence France-Presse [Industry Weekly]
  4. World Trade Organization to Investigate China’s Limits on Rare-Earth Exports – Marketwire [SYS-CON Media]
  5. Rare Earth Elements – Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh [Canada Free Press]

The Rise of Residential Segregation by Income

residential segregation by income

A new report by the Pew Research Center shows that residential segregation by income in the U.S. has increased during the past 30 years in 27 of the 30 largest major metropolitan areas. Check the report to find out details about your city. You can also click on the map above to see visualizations of income segregation for the largest metropolitan areas, e.g. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston.

Poverty in the U.S. and Around the World

  1. The Poverty Line: One day, one person (The Poverty Line)
  2. World Population Below The Poverty Line – Map (IndexMundi)
  3. United States Poverty Rate by State 2006-2010 – Map (IndexMundi)
  4. United States – People of All Ages in Poverty: 2006-2010 by County – Map (IndexMundi)
  5. Global poverty, Absolute Poverty, Relative Poverty: A Fresh Look – Merrell J. Tuck-Primdahl (World Bank)