Income

Eurosystem staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area, December 2023

Retrieved on: 
星期三, 一月 3, 2024

In doing so, we provide a rare application of the NGFS climate scenarios to economic assessment through the lens of the macroeconomic modelling frameworks underlying the scenario construction (e.g.

Key Points: 
  • In doing so, we provide a rare application of the NGFS climate scenarios to economic assessment through the lens of the macroeconomic modelling frameworks underlying the scenario construction (e.g.
  • Full recycling through government investment yields the strongest output multiplier, whereas recycling through household transfers or reduced income taxes yields the lowest multiplier.
  • During the transition, euro area macroeconomic variables respond very similarly if two-pillar or price level-targeting monetary policy rules are followed.

Elevating the Voices of Creative Professionals: Report & Quote Book

Retrieved on: 
星期三, 一月 3, 2024

Elevating the Voices of Creative Professionals: Report & Quote Book“Most are blue collar, working class voice actors who are working 40 plus hours a week.

Key Points: 

Elevating the Voices of Creative Professionals: Report & Quote Book

  • “Most are blue collar, working class voice actors who are working 40 plus hours a week.
  • Over 60% of the voice actors are located outside of LA and New York.
  • We’re not anti-tech or anti-AI, as many have said before.”   There are many perspectives on generative AI.


The editor of a science fiction and fantasy magazine 
A software developer and contributor to free and open source software projects 
Award winning artists who contributed to movies like Black Panther and Jurassic World along with video games like The Elder Scrolls 

  • While the benefits or risks of new technologies are being debated by policymakers, these individuals experience the effects of innovation in real-time.
  • October discussion underscored that people have concerns about generative AI that are relevant right now and not hypothetical.   In participants’ own words, generative AI is having profound impacts today.
  • “That's a full-time job.”   Understanding these perspectives could be valuable, not everyone has time to watch the 96-minute video recording or read the 40+ page public transcript.


The report itself – supported by attorneys and technologists across the agency, which summarizes the event in terms of: how participants said their data is being obtained, what harms they said they face, how they view consent defaults, and what they’re doing to address generative AI.  

FTC Acts Against Operators of Income Scheme “The Sales Mentor” That Charged Consumers Millions for Bogus Telemarketing Advice

Retrieved on: 
星期二, 一月 2, 2024

The Federal Trade Commission has obtained proposed orders against the operators of a wide-ranging scheme known as “The Sales Mentor” that made millions by falsely promising consumers that they could make big money from telemarketing sales.

Key Points: 
  • The Federal Trade Commission has obtained proposed orders against the operators of a wide-ranging scheme known as “The Sales Mentor” that made millions by falsely promising consumers that they could make big money from telemarketing sales.
  • The defendants have agreed to proposed court orders that would require them to pay a total of $1 million for consumer refunds.
  • The various Sales Mentor “packages” ranged in price from $97 to more than $9,000, according to the complaint.
  • According to the complaint, consumers paid more than $29 million to the defendants when the scheme was active between 2018 and 2022.

Why you may not be able to get on the housing ladder or buy a bigger home in 2024

Retrieved on: 
星期二, 一月 2, 2024

These borrowers have come off historically low fixed rates and are now often paying hundreds more per month in mortgage repayments.

Key Points: 
  • These borrowers have come off historically low fixed rates and are now often paying hundreds more per month in mortgage repayments.
  • Out of the 1.4 million households that remortgaged in 2023 alone, most were previously on rates of less than 2%.
  • In contrast, new two-year fixed rate mortgages peaked at 6.86% in July although in December the rate fell to just below 5%.
  • At best, housing market activity will increase and prices will rise, but probably only in line with inflation.

What is dropshipping? 6 things to consider before you start dropshipping as a side hustle

Retrieved on: 
星期二, 一月 2, 2024

The phone case arrives safely at your house, the online retailer makes a small profit and everyone is happy.

Key Points: 
  • The phone case arrives safely at your house, the online retailer makes a small profit and everyone is happy.
  • But the phone case didn’t come from the retailer’s premises.
  • The only thing the online retailer did was take your order and organise for the factory to deliver the case to your home.
  • Dropshipping may sound like an appealing side hustle to help offset the cost-of-living crunch but there are downsides, too.

There are pros and cons


Dropshipping has doubled since 2020, and is expected to double again by 2027. Websites with e-commerce features are also increasingly affordable, and since the barrier to entry for starting a dropshipping business is low, it has become a popular method for making extra money. Dropshipping eliminates “inventory costs”, which includes things like:
buying the products upfront
paying warehouse rent, and
paying staff to package and ship.

  • Low startup costs also make dropshipping more accessible to a wider range of people than traditional businesses.
  • So dropshipping has clear advantages over traditional methods of selling online – but it’s not all rosy.
  • The main problem with dropshipping is loss of control over the delivery and fulfilment process.

1. Supplier reputation matters


Dropshipping isn’t new – brands in the late 1990s were doing it. But with this maturity has arisen opportunities for fraud. Counterfeits, knock-offs, and general quality issues are worryingly commonplace in the dropshipping world. Choose a reputable supplier with clear systems and processes to control product quality and eliminate copyright infringement.

2. Choose a local supplier


To remain competitive, delivery speed is key. If your target audience is in Australia, shipping from foreign soils won’t cut it – the delivery times are too long. Consumers are willing to wait to receive their products on some occasions, but most of the time consumers want it now. Choose a local, reputable supplier to minimise delivery times.

3. Don’t assume quality

  • The quality of products from dropshipping suppliers varies considerably, and what looks great on screen might look very different in hand.
  • Selling poor quality products means more customer service requests, and ultimately consumers start to associate your brand with poor quality.

4. Develop a relationship with your supplier


The best way to resolve potential delivery issues associated with dropshipping is to build a strong relationship with the supplier. Many suppliers do not offer support services when things go wrong. These suppliers should be treated with caution. Developing a strong, collaborative relationship with a willing supplier makes service failures easier to deal with.

5. Stand out from the crowd


Doing business online is not easy – all your competitors are just a click or a tap away. Dropshipping is common, and many other websites are selling the same things as you, potentially from the same supplier. Standing out from the crowd is key. Differentiate yourself from other dropshippers by servicing niche markets and offering superior after-sales support.

6. The customer sets demand

  • Don’t add more and more products to your catalogue until you’re offering everything under the sun; this sets you up for failure because you end up offering everything to no-one.
  • Find an easily reachable and sizeable audience and stick to what they want, not what you think they want.


In 2019 Brent Coker developed the Wear Cape app - a high engagement content production and seeding app designed for agencies specialising in influencer marketing strategies.

An African history of cannabis offers fascinating and heartbreaking insights – an expert explains

Retrieved on: 
星期六, 十二月 30, 2023

I’ve studied plants from perspectives ranging between ecology and cultural history, including obscure plants and more widely known ones, such as the African baobab.

Key Points: 
  • I’ve studied plants from perspectives ranging between ecology and cultural history, including obscure plants and more widely known ones, such as the African baobab.
  • Cannabis has a truly global history associated with a wide range of uses and meanings.
  • Cannabis has been under global prohibition for most of the last century, which has stunted understanding of the people-plant relationship.
  • Africa, Africans and people of the African diaspora have had crucial roles in the plant’s history that are mostly forgotten.

Medicinal potential

  • The African history of cannabis highlights its medicinal potential, a topic of growing interest.
  • The African past is absent from this medical literature, even though historical observers reported how Africans used cannabis in contexts that justify current interest in its medicinal potential.
  • Their experience justifies exploring cannabis as a potential treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and other conditions.

Exploitative labour

  • Africans have valued cannabis for centuries, though it’s difficult to know all the uses it had, because most weren’t documented.
  • Despite its limits, the historical record clearly shows that people used cannabis as a stimulant and painkiller in association with hard labour.
  • affirm that it wakes them up and warms their bodies, so that they are ready to start up with alacrity.

Africa’s place in global culture

  • I also study cannabis to understand how African knowledge has shaped global culture.
  • Oral histories from Brazil, Jamaica, Liberia and Sierra Leone tell that enslaved central Africans carried cannabis.
  • Around the Atlantic, many terms for cannabis trace to central Africa, including the global word marijuana, derived from Kimbundu mariamba.

Drug policy reforms

  • Drug policy reforms worldwide have opened lucrative, legal markets for cannabis.
  • Most African countries that have enacted drug-policy reforms – notable exceptions being South Africa and Morocco – did so only after foreign businesses paid for cannabis farming licences.
  • These drug-policy reforms don’t meaningfully extend to citizens of African countries.
  • Cannabis-policy reforms in Africa have mostly benefited investors and consumers in wealthy countries, not Africans, a textbook example of neocolonialism.

Way forward

  • In any case, the plant’s African past provides insight into both long-term and emerging issues in humanity’s interactions with cannabis.
  • This is why I study African cannabis.


Chris S. Duvall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

The care home sector got £2.1 billion in government COVID aid -- our research shows care workers themselves got little support

Retrieved on: 
星期六, 十二月 30, 2023

In England, the vacancy rate in the adult social care workforce for 2022-2023 was 9.9%.

Key Points: 
  • In England, the vacancy rate in the adult social care workforce for 2022-2023 was 9.9%.
  • Experts underline that staffing and financing were problems in the care sector well before COVID arrived in March 2020.
  • The pandemic exacerbated this crisis, despite the extra £2.1 billion in emergency government support, provided during the first year.
  • Of the care workers we spoke to, 42% are in financial distress related to having worked in care homes during the pandemic.

Care workers in dire straits

  • We conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with 43 care home staff, including workers and managers.
  • We found that most of the £2.1 billion in government aid went to covering care homes’ loss of revenue resulting from decreasing occupancy.
  • In the first two years of the pandemic, 1,290 care workers (including those working in domiciliary settings) died as a result of COVID-19.
  • Of the care workers we surveyed, 80% reported working more hours during the pandemic, typically doing 12-hour shifts, as opposed to the seven to eight-hour norm.
  • Taking on extra hours actually put some workers at a financial disadvantage because it reduced their eligibility for in-work benefits.

A defective funding model

  • It highlighted the demise, since 2011, of two major providers, Southern Cross and Four Seasons, which housed 45,000 elderly people between them.
  • Our findings confirm that the complex funding model on which the care home sector is based is unsustainable.
  • For the most part, however, two things kept care homes afloat in the first year of the pandemic.
  • Our [staff] turnover rate has gone up to about 33%, and we had it down at about 18% before the pandemic.
  • Our [staff] turnover rate has gone up to about 33%, and we had it down at about 18% before the pandemic.


Marianna Fotaki receives funding from UK Research and Innovation COVID Scheme Derya Ozdemir Kaya does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Could you cope with a shock to your bank balance? 5 ways to check you are financially resilient

Retrieved on: 
星期六, 十二月 30, 2023

A week later, a pipe in your bathroom bursts, causing $8,000 worth of damage.

Key Points: 
  • A week later, a pipe in your bathroom bursts, causing $8,000 worth of damage.
  • Being financially resilient means you aren’t left financially devastated when an expensive emergency creeps up on you.

1. You have a plan for what you’d do if you suddenly lost your salary

  • This extends to how you’d make money if you lost your job.
  • Perhaps you have a spare room in your home you could rent out for a period of time if you lost your salary.

2. You have enough liquid assets to meet an unexpected financial expense

  • Liquid assets means money that can be accessed quickly and easily to overcome an unplanned financial expense.
  • They provide a buffer so you can cope in the short term if a financial shock strikes.
  • Putting money in an offset account helps you save while reducing the amount of interest on a home loan.

3. You have bought the right financial products, such as insurance


Financial products, such as insurance, hedge against potential losses. Personal insurance is important because it provides income in the event of death, illness or injury. Examples include:
life insurance (which pays out to your beneficiaries, such as your partner or children, when you die)
total and permanent disability insurance (which means you may get some money if you acquire a disability that prevents you from working)
income protection (which provides you with an income if you can no longer work)
trauma cover (which covers a life-changing illness or injury, such as cancer or a stroke).
Check if your superannuation has any of these insurances included in it. Research has found that many Australians are underinsured.

4. You can still pay your debts when times are tough


Being able to borrow money can help when you’re in a tight spot. But knowing where to borrow from, how much to borrow and how to manage debt repayments is crucial. Financially resilient people use debt responsibly. That means:
not using debt for frivolous expenses like after-work drinks
staying away from private money lenders
being cautious about buy-now-pay-later services
watching out for debts with high interest rates, such as payday loans and credit card debt
maintaining debt repayments consistently.
If you’re having debt problems, talk to your lender about renegotiating your repayment arrangements, or contact the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007.

5. You are financially literate

  • Being financially literate means you can assess the benefits and risks of using savings or taking out debt to meet an unplanned financial need.
  • Being aware of your financial strengths and weaknesses, and having financial goals is also important.
  • Nobody is born knowing how to make sound financial decisions; it’s a skill that must be learned.


Bomikazi Zeka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

If NZ's new government wants a simple fix to improve child poverty, here’s what it should do

Retrieved on: 
星期四, 十一月 9, 2023

For those without children, its proposed payment of the full Independent Earner Tax Credit for incomes between NZ$24,000 and $66,000 would kick in from April 1 next year.

Key Points: 
  • For those without children, its proposed payment of the full Independent Earner Tax Credit for incomes between NZ$24,000 and $66,000 would kick in from April 1 next year.
  • This would help some 380,000 people in low and modestly paid work with an extra $10 a week.
  • At the same time, the work effort of low-income parents can be better rewarded.

How the poverty trap works

  • When a family’s joint gross income exceeds the (very low) fixed $42,700 threshold, every extra dollar earned denies them 27 cents of WFF assistance.
  • To help explain this, it’s useful to imagine a typical family in those circumstances.
  • Let’s say this family has two children at school, with one parent in full-time employment and the other half-time, both on the minimum wage.
  • Read more:
    Forcing people to repay welfare ‘loans’ traps them in a poverty cycle – where is the policy debate about that?

Letting people work and earn more

  • Delaying the change only decreases the incentive to work, with flow-on effects for productivity.
  • This would also address child poverty, as about half of the country’s poor children are in families in low-paid work.
  • Many slip further into debt every week, waste precious time arguing for means-tested top-ups from Work and Income, or need food parcels from stretched and underfunded foodbanks.

A simple solution

  • This would best be achieved by an immediate increase to the Family Tax Credit, over and above the required inflation adjustment.
  • Here is a counter-intuitive but serious suggestion: reduce the In Work Tax Credit by $25 a week and increase the Family Tax Credit by the same amount.
  • But this basic suggestion could still be a win-win for National’s key objectives at roughly the same eventual annual cost.


Susan St John is affiliated with the Child Poverty Action Group.

Why The Conversation lifted the (eye) mask on insomnia

Retrieved on: 
星期四, 十一月 9, 2023

In Australia, the financial cost of poor sleep is an estimated A$26 billion a year, mainly through lost productivity or accidents.

Key Points: 
  • In Australia, the financial cost of poor sleep is an estimated A$26 billion a year, mainly through lost productivity or accidents.
  • Think sleep apps, sleep therapy, sleep influencers, sleeping pills, medicinal cannabis, and on it goes.
  • That’s why The Conversation commissioned a six-part series to explore insomnia.

How we became obsessed with sleep

  • So our sleep habits shifted as a result of this new way of living and working.
  • Read more:
    A short history of insomnia and how we became obsessed with sleep

Insomnia in the movies, and why it’s a problem

  • Insomnia is rarely depicted as a treatable illness, write Aaron Schokman and Nick Glozier from the University of Sydney.
  • These portrayals have implications for the estimated one in three of us with at least one insomnia symptom.
  • These portrayals can perpetuate stereotypes about insomnia and who’s at risk, making it harder for people to seek care.

How dangerous is insomnia really?

  • Insomnia has been linked to developing conditions such as dementia, obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure.
  • No wonder people are concerned about their lack of sleep and its impacts.
  • Even if people don’t have insomnia to start with, all this unnecessary worry may lead them to develop it.

How about mental disorders?

  • As Ben Bullock from Swinburne University of Technology writes, the relationship between insomnia and mental disorders is complex.
  • It’s not just a case of “which comes first, the insomnia or the mental disorder?” Insomnia and mental disorders are interrelated in ways we don’t fully understand.

Which treatments actually work?

  • Next, we look at treatments for insomnia – what works, what doesn’t, and what we might expect.
  • It’s a type of psychological therapy known as cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, or CBTi.

There’s an app for that

  • The global insomnia market is expected to reach US$6.3 billion by 2030, driven by increased diagnoses and therapy, as well as sleep aids, including sleep apps.
  • And fixating on the sleep data these apps generate won’t necessarily help you sleep.
  • Then there are social media “sleep influencers” who share their take on sleep and how to get more of it.

If you can’t sleep


We hope the series helps pull back the (eye) mask on insomnia – what it is, what it is not, and how to access treatment. But the series is also a reminder that not everyone can buy the latest technologies or can change their environment or lifestyle to help them sleep. As Lupton concludes, a good night’s sleep shouldn’t be the preserve of the privileged.