＊第三季＊【EP. 49】#318 經濟學人新聞評論【中國疫情、新冠疫苗、氣候變遷、NASA (美國國家航空暨太空總署)、NOAA (美國國家海洋暨大氣總署)、聖嬰現象 (El Niño)、大麥克指數、購買力平價、貨幣貶值、匯率操縱】

🔴Friday January 15th 2021 🔵2021年1月15日星期五 1️⃣Covid-19 in China: miss me? 新冠病毒在中國：想我嗎？ Mainland China recorded its first death from covid-19 since May. It occurred in Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, where 23m people are under some form of restrictions following the country’s biggest outbreak since the summer. Heilongjiang province, in the north-east, has also reported new cases. 中國自 (去年) 五月以來首次新增了因新冠病毒而死亡的病例。該案件發生在環繞著北京的河北省，而那裡的 2300萬居民正生活在某種形式的限制措施之下，起因於那裡爆發了自去年夏天以來最大的疫情。位在中國東北的黑龍江省也新增了確診病例。 2️⃣The climate REALLY is changing! 氣候“真的在”變遷！ Last year is vying with 2016 for the unwanted title of hottest year on record. NASA determined that 2020’s average global land and ocean temperature was fractionally warmer than in 2016, while America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concluded the opposite. Temperatures in 2016 were bolstered by El Niño, a weather event; 2020’s were not. The seven hottest years since reliable records began 140 years ago have all occurred since 2014. 去年 (2020年) 正在與 2016年爭奪有記錄以來最熱年份的頭銜。NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration，美國國家航空暨太空總署) 確定在 2020年的全球平均陸地以及海洋溫度比 2016年略有上升，而美國國家海洋暨大氣總署 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) 卻得出了相反的結論。聖嬰現象 (El Niño) 加劇了 2016年的氣溫; 但 2020年則是不同的情況。自從 140年前開始有了可靠的記錄以來，有 7個最熱的年份都是自 2014年以來發生的。 3️⃣Bun fight: the Big Mac index 漢堡打漢堡：大麥克指數 Despite a recent bout of weakness, the dollar still looks strong, judging by The Economist’s latest Big Mac index. By comparing the prices of McDonald’s burgers around the world, the index provides a rough gauge of the purchasing power of currencies. Our measure suggests that the currencies of all 20 trading partners studied by America’s Treasury have strengthened against the greenback since July, but that all except the Swiss franc are still undervalued. America is keen to punish countries that intentionally depress their currencies: in November it used currency manipulation to justify tariffs on imports of twist-ties, used to seal plastic bags, from China. But according to another version of the index, which adjusts for GDP per person, the yuan is in fact overvalued against the dollar by 2.5%. That gives the incoming Biden administration, which has promised to take “aggressive trade-enforcement actions” against currency manipulators, lots to chew on. 儘管近期以來的疲軟，但根據經濟學人所公佈的大麥克指數 (藉由比較世界各國之麥當勞的大麥克漢堡售價來粗估各國貨幣之購買力) 來看，美元仍表現得很強勢。經濟學人的衡量結果顯示自從去年 7月起，由美國財政部對其 20個貿易夥伴之貨幣所進行的調查中，除了瑞士法郎的價值被低估以外，其餘 (貨幣) 都較美元來得更為走升。美國一直熱衷於懲罰刻意將貨幣貶值的國家：在去年 11月時，美方以 (中國進行) 匯率操控為由，合理化對中方實施 (用於綁緊塑膠袋口的) 包塑金屬絲之進口關稅。但根據另一版本經由人均 GDP 校準後的指標顯示，人民幣兑換美元實際上被高估了 2.5%。這給了即將上任、曾承諾要對匯率操縱國採行更積極的貿易執法行動之拜登政府很大的深思空間。 -- Hosting provided by SoundOn