I didn’t realize that The Economist series videos are such beneficial resources for leveling up my perspective of the world. Now I find watching The Economist series videos are not only entertaining but also educating.
It’s challenging to imagine a world in the future regardless of how near it may be. However, by watching The Economist series videos, you may possibly be guided by the illustration provided by the experts to take a glimpse of what the future is like. Today I watched two videos by The Economist titled “Could digital currencies put banks out of business” and “The future of shopping: what’s in stores,” respectively.
“Could digital currencies put banks out of business” illustrates that the emerging of digital currencies like digital Yuan in China are using their power as the central bank currency to compete with digital financial (payment) services provided by commercial corporations like Alipay. Governments use digital currencies to rival the tech giants and secure their grasp of the economy. But why would this lead to the consequence that digital currencies put banks out of business? Commercial banks rely on providing loans to individuals or companies to make money, and they use interest rates to gain more money. However, digital currencies are issued by the central banks, which means there is no space for the survival of the commercial banks. By doing so, central banks are able to gain more power over the control of the currencies, and it will be easier for central banks to apply monetary policy. Nevertheless, the full circulation of digital currencies can result in governments’ greater monitory over citizens’ privacy and financial status, which means it will be more difficult for you to buy products from the banned area.
“The future of shopping: what’s in stores” underlines the importance of the role information and data play in the business field by comparing the different developing trends of China and the west. China’s larger population result in a smaller retail space for each of the habitatants, which is only one to seventh of which in the US. However, China’s online commerce is developing faster and better than the west. China ranks first in the consumption of e-commerce industry and the e-commerce corporations in China like Alibaba, JD, and Pingduoduo by collecting user data to adjust the products consumers like and meet the needs of the consumers faster. By comparison, physical stores are far less likely to adapt to the consumers’ needs because they possess much less consumer data than online stores do. Moreover, the pandemic also influenced the real economy heavily while had little influence on e-commerce. For example, Amazon had reached its best income in history during COVID-19 in 2020.
I personally find both of the videos are very engaging and inspiring, hope you like them as well.