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A periodic sampling of news, analysis and opinion on economic issues of India, China and the USA
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The ICA Institute is a non-profit research institute working to foster research and dissemination of knowledge on the rise of China and India and their impact on global markets, global resources and geopolitics of the world. The ICA Institute's mission is to generate new perspectives on the role of market and resource driven economic development. ICA Institute fosters interaction and dialogue between academic scholars, industry leaders and policy makers on the impact of emerging economies in general and China and India in particular. Specifically, The ICA Institute is positioned to be a catalyst between faculty and students in International Business and industry leaders and managers.

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Understanding Brazil's Oil Industry: Policy Dynamics and Self-Sufficiency

jekem logo(JEKEM)   After attaining self-sufficiency in oil in 2006, new offshore discoveries beginning in 2007 have placed Brazil among the world's top ten countries in oil reserves. In light of these discoveries, the Brazilian government is considering a new legal framework with respect to its offshore oil reserves. This paper provides historical evidence to substantiate the premise and assesses the implications of the new framework in relation to continuing the country's historical goal and achievement of self-sufficiency in oil. 
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Headlines
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US says willing to assist India-China dialogue
(AFP | Feb 2)
The United States is willing to help India and China improve their relations and welcomes a greater involvement by New Delhi in East Asia, a senior US official said Wednesday.

India's Rural Commons at Odds with Surging Industrialization
(Your Olive Branch | Feb 8)
With Indian media reporting the likelihood of its nation producing the world's seven-billionth human sometime this year, the 'inconvenient' question must be addressed forthrightly: how many cars, cell phones, satellite dishes, television sets, and other emblems of material 'progress' can the globe withstand? Beyond the more obvious urgency of climate change - the immediate need for radical emissions reductions and greatly expanded carbon sinks, among others - how much more room do the earth and the sky have for the material advancement of our ballooning populace?

US trying to BRIC up with China
(The Voice of Russia | Feb 8)
On Monday, the US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visited Brazil for a one-day visit and had important talks with the newly-elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. The officially announced purpose of the visit was boosting economic and trade ties between the biggest economy worldwide and the biggest economy in Latin America, as well as laying foundations for Barack Obama's visit to Brazil due next month. But, as most observers have noticed, their discussion was mostly focused on the issue of China and its reluctance to raise the exchange rate of its national currency, the yuan.

'Bric' creator adds newcomers to list
(Financial Times | Jan 16)
Jim O'Neill, who coined the term "Bric", is about to redefine further emerging markets and will explain the new approach to clients this month. The chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management plans to add Mexico, South Korea, Turkey and Indonesia into a new grouping with the Brics - Brazil, Russia, India and China - that he dubs "growth markets".

Biden unveils 53 billion dollar rail plan
(AFP | Feb 8)
Obama argued in the State of the Union address last month that reinventing America's economy and reviving US infrastructure was crucial to tackling high unemployment and helping the US economy complete with rising giants like China and India.

US seeks to expand military cooperation with India
(MSn News | Feb 9)
"As military capability and capacity increases in Asia, we will seek new ways to catalyse greater regional security cooperation. Leveraging our convening power, we will expand the scope and participation of multilateral exercises across the region," said the report titled ''The National Military Strategy if the United States of America 2011''.

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Capital Markets
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Emerging-market countries can deliver greater returns
(The Vancouver Sun | Feb 2)
Several emerging-markets countries around the world have recorded explosive economic growth in recent years, and some are even helping fuel the world economic recovery. As such, stocks of countries in emerging markets may constitute a valuable element of a well-diversified registered retirement savings (RRSP) plan portfolio in 2011.

Inflation curse may bring more pain for India earnings
(Market Watch | Feb 8)
So far this year, Indian stocks have lagged their regional counterparts by a mile, and their struggle looks set to roll on, as the pain inflicted on companies' bottom lines by the inflation curse has yet to run its course.

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Innovation
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Change ahead in China's rare earth role
(The Australian | Jan 19)
As Chinese President Hu Jintao wraps up his US tour on Friday with business meetings in Chicago, his country's future role in the global rare-earth trade will be under scrutiny at a Critical Materials investment conference on the other side of the North American continent. But instead of the usual discussion about Chinese domination of the rare-earth supply chain - it currently has more than 95 per cent of the market - two of Hu's rare-earth specialists are due to speak at the conference in Vancouver, Canada on the theme "China to join the buy side."

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Opinions
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The Great Invention Race
(Foreign Policy | Jan 27)
Whatever we do, China and India will train more scientists and engineers. But America's still got the best environment for ideas to grow.

Time to beat China at its own game
(The Australian newspaper | Feb 5)
There is an almost mathematical elegance to Ross Babbage's vitally important new paper, Australia's Strategic Edge in 2030, to be published on Monday February 7. The veteran defence analyst wants Australia to do to China what China is doing to the US. China recognises that it could never defeat the US in a full-on, force-on-force conflict. But it can make it incredibly costly and dangerous for the US to operate its military in the western Pacific.

Optimistic excess on Latin America
(Miami Herald | Feb 7)
"Will 2011 be the dawn of the Latin American decade?" asked the headline of a Standard and Poor's webcast that piqued my curiosity last week. When I saw it, I wondered whether the Wall Street ratings firm was making a big blunder, or I was missing the biggest economic story in the region.

Can US economy thrive as China rises?
(The Christian Science Monitor | Feb 7)
So just how big an economic threat is China? Is this really a "Sputnik moment" for America, as the president said? The challenge to America is real, but it also shouldn't be exaggerated. The notion that China is already No. 1 is flatly wrong, most economists and Asia experts say.

India Journal: Can Egypt Happen in India?
(Wall Street Journal | Feb 8)
Which country do you think this is? And does it look like a basket case to you? -A growth rate of 7% for three consecutive years prior to the global financial crisis. -A 6% growth rate projected for the next fiscal year. -Unemployment below 10%. -A Gini coefficient (a measure of inequality of income distribution varying between 0 for perfect equality and 1 for perfect inequality) around 0.3, lower than the United States' at 0.45. The answer may surprise you: Egypt.

" Indian market 'a victim of its own success'
(The Globe and Mail | Feb 7)
Inflation and interest rate concerns have foreign investors looking elsewhere, but many remain bullish in the long run. Indian stocks have been among the world's worst performers since the start of the year, a victim of investors' fears that some emerging markets may be in for a period of slower growth.

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ICA Institute

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Articles and opinion pieces are from a variety of sources and viewpoints and do not necessarily reflect those of ICA Institute. Access to some articles may require free registration to the site or may not be cited to the original source.
International Contributors Editorial Board
Prashant Das - Co-Editor | Anitha Vadavatha - Co-Editor | Ruchir Agrawal - Atlanta | Christopher Chan - Intellectual Property - Hong Kong | Dr. Sudhanva Char - Academic Resources | Harsha Harjani - Hong Kong | Asha Hemrajani - Singapore | Geoff Hiscock - Australia | Ratika Jain - UK | Innovation | Shree Pandya - Engaging Youth | Xun Sun - Architecture Consultant | Dr. Yu Xiao - USA | Dr. Nilay Yajnik - India | Dexin Zhou - China |