Tag Archives: Economics

Engines of Democracy

Posted on January 21, 2006 by John Hunter

Engines of Democracy [the broken link was removed] by Charles Fishman, Fast Company: The 170-plus people who work at this plant try to make perfect jet engines. And they come close. On average, one-quarter of the engines that GE/Durham sends to Boeing have just a single defect — something cosmetic, such as a cable not lined up right, or a scratch on a fan case. The other three-quarters are, in fact, perfect. … GE/Durham’s continuous-feedback culture — “We call this … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Management Articles | Tagged ,

America’s Manufacturing Future

Posted on December 27, 2005 by John Hunter

A Wake-up Call From Asia [the broken link was removed] by Patricia Panchak [the broken link was removed]: China and India very aggressively are pursuing advanced manufacturing. Increasingly, China’s exports to the U.S. are composed of advanced-technology products. … J.P. Morgan said it would add 4,500 employees in India by the year 2007, mainly by setting up operations in Bangalore to support its growing structured finance and derivatives businesses globally. Such jobs are not the simple, low-value call-center work that … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Economics, India, Manufacturing | Tagged , ,

Hopeful About India’s Manufacturing Sector

Posted on December 11, 2005 by John Hunter

Why Am I Hopeful About India’s Manufacturing Sector [the broken link was removed] by Indra: As World Economic Forum Founder and Chairman Professor Klaus Schwab said in recently held India Economic Summit, 2005, “It is indeed important for India to excel globally not only in the services sector but also in the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing in India has become much more sophisticated with the introduction of high technology in many of its production processes. A key priority for India is … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, India, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Be Thankful for Lean Thinking

Posted on November 22, 2005 by John Hunter

Topics: Management Improvement and Economics The Dallas Federal Reserve white paper, Supply Chain Management: The Science of Better, Faster, Cheaper [the broken link was removed] by Thomas F. Siems provides a macroeconmic view of what to be thankful due to the practice of lean thinking: Through better information engineering, supply chain improvements have resulted in a reduced bullwhip effect, lower inventory levels, reduced logistics costs, and streamlined payments. These improvements appear to have helped produce macroeconomic benefits such as more … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Lean thinking, Management, Six sigma | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Science and Engineering

Posted on October 13, 2005 by John Hunter

Broad Federal Effort Urgently Needed to Create New, High-Quality Jobs for All Americans in the 21st Century [the broken link was removed], news release on a report from the National Academies Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy – Rising Above The Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future: U.S. 12th-graders recently performed below the international average for 21 countries on a test of general knowledge in mathematics and science. This is not a new discovery, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Science | Tagged , , ,

The Dramatic Spread of Lean Thinking

Posted on October 3, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement and Economics The Dramatic Spread of Lean Thinking [the broken link was removed] by Jim Womack: Currently we are experiencing an explosion of interest in applying lean thinking to practically every process in every corner of the world. And it is causing all of us in the Lean Community to think about how we can best serve the needs we are hearing about. … I am delighted with the spread of lean thinking far beyond the factory … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Innovation and Creative Commons

Posted on October 2, 2005 by John Hunter

Creative Commons is a license that lets the creators of intellectual property clearly define how that property may be used by others. Partially this license is a reaction to the poor way copyright law is being viewed today (see links below). Partially it is tool that gives creators a way to provide for more interaction with their ideas. And this interaction is a great way to market, in the right circumstances. More managers should be thinking about how their organizations … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Economics, Innovation | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Science and Engineering Macroeconomic Investment

Posted on August 10, 2005 by John Hunter

I posted to the Curious Cat Science Blog on the Science and Engineering Doctoral Degrees being granted around the world. Why do I post this here as a Economic post? I believe, as do some countries that have made significant commitments to investing in science and technology education that such investments can have a large impact on long term economic success. A couple points from that post: From The Brain Drain [the broken link has been removed] by Debra W. … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, quote, Science | Tagged , ,

Estate Tax Repeal

Posted on July 28, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Economics – Estate Tax The estate tax is the most capitalist tax that exists. Capitalism, which some seem to think is based on people inheriting assets from their relatives, is not. Capitalism is based on the concept that each person gets to receive rewards for their work. Long before Adam Smith, noble rich passed on their wealth to their heirs. It was not Capitalist then and it is not Capitalist now. Unfortunately many seem to have skipped economics in … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged | 2 Comments

Millennium Development Goals

Posted on July 9, 2005 by John Hunter

re: Six Sigma Training for the G-8? Interestingly Prime minstrel Blair recently showed an understanding of systems thinking (specifically how targets can result in worse performance, when targets result in distortion of the system rather than improvement). In the targets in health care case the easy “politics of the warm fuzzy feeling” would be to declare victory in setting targets. In that case PM Blair realized that while the data might look better the actual results might not necessarily be … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, Management, Six sigma, Systems thinking | Tagged

China and the Sugar Industry Tax Consumers

Posted on May 22, 2005 by John Hunter

China to Raise Tariffs On Clothing Exports, from the Washington Post: The Chinese action would raise export duties on 74 categories of Chinese clothing from token amounts announced late last year to a range of 12 to 48 cents per garment, starting June 1. If the Chinese government must reduce the amount of the world textile trade that their country is taking, or face retaliation from other countries, this is a very smart move. Essentially China gets to tax the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged | 1 Comment

Price Discrimination in the Internet Age

Posted on January 18, 2005 by John Hunter

Re: Boing Boing post – Why HP’s region coding excuse is bogus There is a simple method for large multi-national companies to use to protect against currency fluctuation. They can use foreign exchange futures to do so. Companies do this all the time (some also chose not to for their own business reasons). “Foreign Exchange is the largest of the global financial markets. Daily trading volume in the currency markets is estimated to be 1.1 US trillion dollars.” – Smith … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Economics, Management | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

USA Health Care Costs reach 15.3% of GDP – the highest percentage ever

Posted on January 11, 2005 by John Hunter

re: Health Care Spending In The United States Slows For The First Time In Seven Years The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services) issued a report (the press release states that report will appear in the Jan/Feb edition of Health Affairs but does not provide a link so the link is my guess of where the report will appear) and a news release putting a positive spin on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Health care, Popular, quote | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Adventure Capitalist and China Wakes

Posted on December 19, 2004 by John Hunter

I recently read two books that offered perspectives I found worthwhile and were enjoyable to read. Adventure Capitalist by Jim Rogers tracked his trip around the world by car. Previously he had documented his around the world motorcycle journey in Investment Biker. His views offer a worthwhile perspective that is often missed, in my opinion. That said I wouldn’t accept his views as the final truth they are valuable as one perspective to shed light on areas that are often … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Economics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Economics – America and China

Posted on November 30, 2004 by John Hunter

Business Week has several good articles on the topic of China’s Economic impact including: Shaking up Trade Theory and The China Price. In Shaking up Trade Theory Aaron Bernstein explores: “The fact that programming, engineering, and other high-skilled jobs are jumping to places such as China and India seems to conflict head-on with the 200-year-old doctrine of comparative advantage.” Over the last few years the white collar job losses in tech US have seemed to cause quite a bit more … Continue reading →

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