Repurposed hardware, the global capex slump, academic hierarchies & Alpine poverty
Great links, reading and images from Chartbook Newsletter by Adam Tooze
Source: Asai
Maurice Mbikayi was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, and today lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2000 he graduated with a BA in Graphic Design (Advertising and Visual Communication), from the Academies des Beaux Arts in Kinshasa. He has completed his Master of Fine Art degree (with distinction) in 2015 at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. By repurposing tech waste into sculpture, Mbikayi highlights the underbelly of ‘advancement’ – exploitation of Black mining labour, environmental damage and systemic health risks.
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Whilst we were worrying about inflation and banks, a slump in capex is rippling across corporations around the world.
The Economist analysed capital-spending data from 33 oecd countries. In the fourth quarter of last year capex fell by 1% from the previous quarter.
In the name of strategic autonomy and decoupling from China governments around the worldwide are pouring tens of billions into promoting chip production, meanwhile:
Semiconductor firms, in particular, have realised that they massively overinvested in capacity, and are now pulling back. In the final quarter of 2022 American real spending on information-processing equipment was down by 2%, year on year. The big tech firms are likely to cut capex by 7% in real terms in 2023, forecasters think.
To meet the banking panic, the Fed reversed months of quantitative tightening in a matter of days.
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Energy demand in rich countries peaked 15 years ago. All growth is in EM and developing economies, which now account for 61 percent of total.
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For every unit of global GDP we need half as much as oil in the 1970s.
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Maurice Mbikayi
Source: Africanah
Where the tenure line runs across academia:
An interesting international comparison highlighting Germany’s anomalous system.
Maurice Mbikayi
Source: Africanah
Why Chicago is the greatest city on the Mississippi!
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Maurice Mbikayi