Economy | ANALYSIS
Households to take hit from tax hike
by Tomoko Otake
The consumption tax increase will hit every household in Japan hard, with many people’s financial future hanging on whether their wages rise enough to offset the hike's impact.
Social Issues Oct 1, 2013
World is not ready for rapidly aging population, global study finds
The world is aging so fast that most countries are not prepared to support their swelling numbers of elderly people, according to a global study going out Tuesday by the United Nations and an elder rights group.
Asia Pacific Sep 26, 2013
Asia falls in global wealth list
Some 300,000 people joined Asia’s millionaire ranks last year, according to a new world wealth report that also found the region slipped behind a rebounding North America. The report, released Wednesday by CapGemini and Royal Bank of Canada, is the latest of several recent ...
Social Issues Sep 17, 2013
After decades of growth, South Korea is now a land full of apartments
by Chico Harlan
South Korea is a nation covered by apartments, so much so that from above, it resembles a coast-to-coast game of dominoes. Apartment buildings snake around mountains and form jarring clusters in the countryside. In cities, they align in grids that stretch for several kilometers. ...
Asia Pacific Sep 15, 2013
Bubble trouble hits sales of jade in Hong Kong
Prized as a magical imperial stone, jade is a status symbol of the superrich in Asia, but rocketing prices in the top-end of the market have left traders in Hong Kong struggling to find buyers. With the cost of high-quality raw jade and jade ...
World Aug 18, 2013
For Obama, racial progress tied to economic woes
by Zachary A. Goldfarb
President Barack Obama has only occasionally used his bully pulpit to confront racial inequality in the U.S., even if race inherently has been a backdrop of his tenure as the nation’s first black leader. He has, however, made fighting economic inequality a central goal ...
Business Aug 13, 2013
Emirati royals dethrone Abramovich in mega-yacht race
The royal family of the United Arab Emirates has dethroned Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in the race to own the world’s biggest mega-yacht, an annual survey of the world’s 100 biggest yachts has shown in the magazine Yachts France. The 180-meter Azzam built for ...
Offbeat Jul 24, 2013
China's nouveau riche fork out for high-class etiquette
How to properly peel an orange, hold an oyster fork and pronounce luxury brand names — wealthy Chinese are paying handsome sums to learn such skills as they seek to match their high-end lifestyles with high-class etiquette. A two-week course at the newly opened ...
Social Issues Jun 27, 2013
Asian immigrants often better off than whites in U.S.: study
Asian immigrants tend to live in highly segregated enclaves in the United States and their income level is often higher than that of white Americans, a study published Wednesday said. The nearly 18 million Asian immigrants to the U.S. are the country’s fastest growing ...
Social Issues May 29, 2013
Fears dog China's rising middle class
With two cars, foreign holidays and a cook for their apartment, one Beijing family epitomizes the new middle class created by China’s decades of rapid economic growth — and its resulting worries. Li Na, 42, a caterer at the capital’s zoo, and her husband, ...
Economy Apr 25, 2013
As U.S. economy picks up, richest get richer
Wealth inequality widened dramatically during the first two years of the economic recovery, as the upper 7 percent of American households saw their average net worth increase 28 percent while the wealth of the other 93 percent declined, according to a report released Tuesday. ...