Green growth? Evidence from energy taxes in Europe

Last week, I discussed how the rampant subsidization of "green industries" like US biofuels manufacturers, combined with increased US government efforts to increase exports, could lead to an onslaught of new trade cases in foreign markets or the WTO, as subsidized American "green" exports began to penetrate foreign markets and injure (or threaten) their competition.  Noting a new Australian anti-subsidy case against US biofuels, I said at the time:

Yves here. One of the big problems with the growth v. “de-growth” debate is how terrible our measures of productive activity are. For instance, if an elderly person stays in their home and has family members take care of them, the only GDP impact is the spending the family does for the old person’s meds, food, doctor visits and occupancy costs. But if the elderly person goes to a nursing home, you get much higher expenditures for care that is likely lower quality from the perspective of the old person.

I still do not believe that the Chinese “recovery” is for real: Chinese credit issuance surged to a record high in January on the back of a boom in shadow banking, stoking concerns that the economy could overheat. Total new financing in January reached Rmb2.5tn ($400bn) – up more than 50 per cent from December and more than double the figure a year ago – eclipsing even the start of 2009 when China unleashed stimulus spending to battle the global financial crisis.

Britain is a huge market for Amazon, the U.S. online retailing giant, accounting for as much as 25% of its total sales outside the United States, or more than $5 billion annually. The company also employs about 15,000 staff in the U.K. But it paid less than $3 million in tax to the British Inland Revenue last year. How so?

By Bill Maurer: After the bell on Wednesday, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) released its fiscal third quarter results.

Nicholas Bloom, Mirko Draca, John Van Reenen, 3 February 2011Chinese exports are often blamed for job losses and firm closures in developed economies. This column tracks the performance of more than half a million manufacturing firms in 12 European countries over the past decade.

By Bill Maurer: After the bell on Wednesday, coffee giant Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) released its fiscal second quarter results. Q2 was extremely mixed, with the company missing revenue estimates, but blowing out earnings estimates.

By Jen Alic, a geopolitical analyst, co-founder of ISA Intel (www.isaintel.com) in Sarajevo and the former editor-in-chief of ISN Security Watch in Zurich. Cross posted from OilPrice As US power plants lose money, a bit of market manipulation goes a long way … ask JPMorgan Chase.