CROWD ELEVATOR

Кажется, что все вокруг сегодня говорят о биткоине, о его внезапном росте и об упущенных возможностях закупиться ими в свое время. Биткоин - это так называемая криптовалюта, представляющая собой программный код. Другими словами - это электронные деньги. Данная система была создана в 2009 году. С тех пор эта цифровая валюта стала настолько популярной, что на 28 января 2014 года курс 1 биткоина составляет порядка 800 долларов США! Биткоины могут использоваться в различных электронных финансовых операциях, начиная с таких как приобритение товаров в электронных магазинах и заканчивая обменом биткоинов на реальные деньги. Несмотря на то, что операции с виртуальной валютой подвергаются постоянной критике и обвиняются в спонсировании террористических операций, данная "цифровая валюта" не контролируется никаким государством и не поддерживается никаким центробанком. Неудивительно, что центробанки различных стран не сходятся во мнении по отношению к данной системе. Так, Банк ...

In the World Bank and IFC Doing Business Report 2014 , Kyrgyzstan is on the 68th place out of 189 in the rankings on the ease of doing business. For comparison, Kyrgyzstan went up on two positions and was on the 70th place last year.  Kyrgyzstan's good practice is that it is making it easy to obtain an electricity connection. On the first lines of ranking are Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, China, New Zealand, United States, Denmark. Last one in the ranking is Chad. Central Asia is continuing its steady pace of regulatory reform. However, Central Asian countries are spread across the ranking. That is, Kazakhstan is on the 50th place, Tajikistan on 143rd and Uzbekistan is on 146th. Russia this year is on 92nd place, went up on twenty positions since last year. This ranking Ease of doing business is based on various criteria and indicators. Among them are: starting a business, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading ac...

Recently, I came across the SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) yearbook. It's a thick 700+ pages yearbook with summaries on armaments, disarmament and international security. I would leave it as it is until I flipped the page on military expenditures. In 2011 there were hot debates about the military expenditure in the US. Well, the expenditures by the Ministry of defense on national defense according to SIPRI yearbook made up 716.3 bln USD in 2012. It is a big amount, but roughly makes up about 5% of US GDP. Picture source http://www.texasgopvote.com/issues/restore-families/house-approves-national-defense-authorization-act-fiscal-year-2014-005572 For me, as for the Kyrgyz citizen, it is a big amount of dollars flowing to "fight with global terrorism activities." Just for the comparison GDP of Kyrgyzstan roughly makes up about 0.4% of US GDP. Per capita GDP of KR ($1,160) makes up around 2.3% of US per capita GDP ($49,965) in 2012. ...

The world leader in franchising is the United States of America. Franchising takes a big part of the business in the US. Among the rankings of the franchises in 2010, on the first place was Subway, the second place took McDonald's and the third place was taken by 7-Eleven. From this top list of franchise companies around the globe, we see that all of them are US franchise companies, and 2 out of 3 companies are involved in fast food industry. And this is not surprising as there are many advantages of running a fast food franchise. The most important one is that there is a same developed menu in each branch that the clients are aware about. As an example, let's say a person traveling from Seattle to Kansas city does not know good places to eat out and in order not to be disappointed she/he will choose to go to a familiar Subway or McDonald's for example. There are notable advantages as to the franchisee, so to the franchiser. Thus, a franchisee gets the rights fo...

Сегодня вечером ко мне в дверь постучал молодой парнишка. Я бы ему дала не больше 18 лет. Так как это было уже вечером, то я побоялась сразу открывать ему дверь. Спрашиваю: "Кто там?". Он мне отвечает: "Вы согласитесь, если я уберу ваш подъезд за 80 сом?" Так как моя квартира находится на последнем этаже, то у меня соответственно возник вопрос. "А остальные соседи согласны? - спрашиваю я." На что он мне отвечает, что начал с моей квартиры. Ну думаю, ладно, не буду расстраивать парнишку раз хочет подзаработать честным трудом, да и подъезд давно не убирали (не уверена, если его вообще убирают). В общем я согласилась и сказала, чтобы он у всех соседей спросил. Ну думаю будет жаль, если не все согласятся, останется наш подъезд неубранным и парнишка расстроеным. Через некоторое время выхожу значит на балкон посмотреть на парнишку, а он все не выходит и не выходит из подъезда. Ну думаю наверное упрашивает всех соседей согласится. Потом вдруг слышу шум в подъезд...

Following my previous article on the issue of a huge incarceration rates in the US. Let me clarify that I am not trying to defend or justify the imprisoned. The only thing that interests me is the economics behind the crimes/prisons. Earlier in the year, President Obama signed the amnesty for illegal aliens that would forgive undocumented people and as a result award them with legal status (Green Card). This in turn will benefit 12 to 20 million undocumented persons currently being in the US. Looks like the authorities accounted that it is more beneficial as for the state budget in terms of extra taxes to be paid by the new legal aliens (up to 20 mln!), so for the illegal immigrants as well. In 1986 through Immigration and Reform Control Act (IRCA) was the first and only amnesty for a large group of people. Back then it was 2.8 million undocumented aliens. Just imagine the benefits to the state budget from this act. First of all there is no more need to pay $160 per imprisoned ...

The United States always tends to be the first one in any sphere. It didn't stay behind in the putting people behind the bars.The US has the highest incarceration rates in the world. The second place is taken by Russia. In 2007, the US peaked in its incarceration rates and those numbers are comparable with the imprisoned people during the years from 1934 to 1953 in Soviet Union ("The Gulag Archipelago" A. Solzhenitsyn). That is 23.4% of the world's prison and jail population was in the US, and this is while there is less than 5% of the world's population living in the US. Does it mean that people in the US tend to commit more crimes or is it a matter of profits to some? Well, according to the professor in the University of Chicago, G. Becker ( the founder of the theory of economics of crime and law enforcement, a Nobel laureate in economics ): "The essence of the economic approach to crime is amazingly simple - It consists in the fact that peopl...