China’s housing market has always fascinated us. Now David Barboza writes that before calling a realtor or posting an ad, Chinese couples file for divorce when they decide to sell their property:

• In an attempt to cool a rapidly heating housing market, the government periodically considers introducing controls such as a 20% tax on the sale of second homes.
• If a couple has two homes and they divorce, then can reasonably claim that each owns one of the homes. They can then sell one of the properties to avoid the second home tax.
• Couples normally get remarried after the sale is complete.

Read more about what experts have to say, the view from the ground, and why the government is so concerned about the property market over here.

Source: The New York Times

The Roman Catholic Church, writes the Economist, is the world’s oldest and most successful multinational with over a billion customers, a million employees, possibly the best recognized logo in the world, and a global distribution network that is finding success in emerging markets. The current CEO has just retired and the board of directors must select the next one. This new Pope will have a lot to learn from chief executives around the world:

• The new Pope will have to deal with the ongoing sex scandal. This won’t be the first time a business has had to deal with a problematic workforce. Companies have found that the best way to do so is to punish guilty employees and treat the institution’s reputation as its most valuable asset.
• The Catholic Church has also spread into too many product areas. Its core focus should be on providing spiritual goods. Yet these days it also provides banking and portfolio services. It should divest itself of these assets and focus on what it does best.
• Most of its growth is coming out of emerging markets in Latin America. But appointing a leader from there isn’t enough. Instead it must follow the lead of other companies and open a second headquarters – or at least outsource important functions – to offices set up in these states.
• The next Pope should also be concerned about start-ups. As successful as the Catholic Church has been in Latin America its market share of the faithful has declined from 90% to 72% in the past century. Pentecostalism is just one of the many rivals it faces.

Read more about how the Church can deal with these start-ups, how the Church should organize centers of excellence, and why Pope Benedict XVI was a bad choice for the top position over here.

Source: The Economist

SimCity 2013 has been slammed by various reviewers, but Adam Sneed writes that the world’s mayors could learn a thing or two from playing the game:

• In SimCity you can exploit the natural resources and conditions you start off with to find short-term success.
• But over the long run those resources could run out, leaving the potential for a sudden sharp decline.
• Changing course is hard though. You need to invest money (higher taxes for your citizens) on shoring up the economy against a threat that may or may not come to pass, in an initiative that may or may not be successful.
• This is precisely the challenge that America’s rust belt faced. That region failed to diversify away from manufacturing and as a result Detroit and Cleveland continue to struggle to this day.
• SimCity also demonstrates the importance of resilience. A small breakdown in a resource mining area, or a fire in an industrial area can have cascading effects that deeply affect the economy if not planned for.
• The United States’ East Coast saw this during Hurricane Sandy when flooded subways handicapped the city for days.

Read more about the future of smart cities, how the game developers approached the concept, and the problems of pollution over here.

Source: Slate

Business news sources are exuberant because the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has hit an all–time high. They should know better writes Jacob Goldstein:

• Any economist worth their salt knows that you need to take into account inflation adjusted changes in indices over time.
• If you do that with the latest DJIA numbers then the Dow is currently below its highs in 2000 and 2007. It’d have to rise another 10% to set the record for all-time best.
• But even if it did it wouldn’t mean much. The DJIA has several weaknesses which make it a really bad economic indicator. (Centives has previously covered some of those reasons here).
• Other, more useful stock indices such as the S&P 500, are below their highs in both nominal and inflation adjusted terms.

Read more about the weaknesses of the DJIA and more over here.

Source: NPR

Ever year companies such as Nike and Apple unveil some of the ‘secrets’ they’ve been working on. Why do we type ‘secrets’ instead of just secrets? Austin Carr writes:

• Corporations like to pretend that they’re extremely secretive and are working on projects that not even their employees are aware of.
• Yet these same companies invite the press into their ‘secret’ labs telling reporters who have tape-recorders in plain view how they don’t want anybody to know what or where they’re working.
• Companies do this because it creates an aura of mystery and intrigue around them.
• But in reality it’s just a marketing ploy. If it wasn’t they wouldn’t spend so much time talking to journalists about how secretive they are.

Read more about the ‘secrets’ of Nike, how this culture has spread to executives, and more over here.

Source: Fast Company

Will Oremus writes that when seen from the perspective of those who lived less than a century ago, we’re rapidly turning into super-humans:

• Wearable technologies such as ultralight fabrics, or strength enhancing suits make us capable of incredible feats of strength and endurance.
• Our knowledge capabilities have been extended as we have the entire internet in our pocket.
• Scientists have demonstrated that telekinesis is possible. One quadriplegic woman fed herself chocolate with a robotic arm she controlled with her mind.
• Drugs such as Adderall also boost our focus and capabilities.

Read more about how we’ve entered the age of the Superman, and what this age will look like going forwards over here.

Source: Slate

In the United States there are tank brokers who can help you acquire your very own tank writes Michael M. Phillips

• The hobby is expensive. Purchasing your own personal tank can costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Not to mention the maintenance costs. Vintage tanks require more than an hour of maintenance for every hour of operation. They also get about 1.25 miles per gallon.
• But they can be a good investment. A Sherman tank cost $75,000 in 1993. Now that same tank goes for $385,000.
• Believe it or not in certain states these tanks can have operational guns.
• Don’t expect to see these vehicles on the streets though – most tanks aren’t street legal.

Read more about the upkeep required of a tank, the most sought after tanks, the difficulty of bringing American tanks home from abroad, and much more for those interested in acquiring a tank over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Via: Marginal Revolution

The Economist writes that the music industry might finally be back:

• Sales of music grew last year, for the first time in more than a decade.
• The internet, long thought to be what was killing the industry, is finally saving it. Digital sales grew by 9% and now represent a third of the music industry’s revenues.
• Performance rights and licensing have also increasingly helped generate revenues.
• In 2011 there were only 23 countries with digital music stores. Now there are over 100.

Read more about the challenges that the industry still faces, some more facts and figures, and the importance of mobile over here.

Source: The Economist

There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle over Marissa Mayer’s decision to ban employees from working from home. Farhad Manjoo believes that this is a mistake and pointed out all the benefits of working remote:

• By taking away the commute workers have more time to be productive.
• Workers also no longer have to worry about office distractions such as small talk or figuring out where to get lunch.
• When attending a meeting in person individuals are forced to pay attention. If they dial into a conference call they only have to pay attention if the meeting is actually useful for them.
• For employees that work remotely managers are forced to focus on the quality of the employee’s work rather than arbitrary metrics such as how much time they spend at the office to evaluated their performance.

Read more about Manjoo’s thoughts as well as why Mayer might have taken the decision over here.

Source: Slate

We’ve previously covered the difficulties that Android is creating for Google. Amir Efrati writes that now they have something new to contend with: a competitor that they themselves helped create. Samsung.

• Samsung has gone onto become the top maker of Android devices.
• Google is worried about Samsung’s success and wants to work with Samsung’s competitors to ensure that Samsung’s devices aren’t as successful.
• Google fears that if Samsung’s domination continues then Samsung will leverage its market dominance to demand better revenue sharing terms with Google.
• Google may use Motorola, its own hardware arm, to make devices with advanced software features that it doesn’t make available to Samsung, in a bid to ensure that Samsung’s devices fail.
• Samsung, for its part, has recognized that Google may try to sabotage its success, and has spread its bets by investing in other systems such as Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform.

Read more about what Google executives are thinking, Samsung’s dominance, and how HTC plays into all this over here.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Via: ArsTechnica