Analytics

Futures Studio was created to engage various members of our society in open debates & discussions. We believe connecting intelligent people from different walks of life leads to progress. Today’s article was written by Artur Budaghyan, the Chief Emerging Market Strategist at BCA Research Group headquartered in Montreal

We can not reveal the name of the person with whom we have conducted this short interview on the current state of international law, international organisations and geopolitics. She/he has worked in various national and international organisations, has published several articles/books on these subjects and still holds a senior role in a major international organisation. This interview was conducted on January 05 of 2021.

The current war in Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh) has two international aspects: Geopolitical and Legal. Both of these aspects are very important. It is a mistake to ignore the legal part of the conflict. In terms of International Law, the war in Artsakh highlights, once again, the tension between two competing principles: a people’s right to self-determination and territorial integrity of states.

Over the last four days, Armenia has been in a full-fledged war with Turkey and Azerbaijan. Russia is keeping a neutral stance. Armenia’s neighbour Georgia has created all sorts of logistical problems for Armenia. Despite all of these hardships, Armenians are fighting for their lives and so far have been winning the war. Both Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s economies are in deep trouble and their leadership desperately needed this war to divert their people’s attention.

Many have argued that economic measurements such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or GDP per Capita do not reflect the true wellbeing of societies. A nonprofit organisation called The Social Progress Imperative has launched a new measure of social wellbeing called the Social Progress Index, available on https://www.socialprogress.org. This comprehensive index captures different aspects of social progress (how free and inclusive societies are, how well they protect the rights of individuals and minority groups, what opportunities they present, environmental quality, health and so on).

The biggest potential benefit of Artificial Intelligence (or simply AI) is in the healthcare industry, especially in developing countries. Why? Because this is one of the very few areas where AI can drastically reduce (rather than raise) costs, increase “happy productivity” (if you don’t know what happy productivity is, read our report on What Creates Wealth) and rapidly improve the overall quality of healthcare services. Below we will explain why we believe the biggest potential benefit of AI is in healthcare.

First, Crises Reveal Incompetence Although crises create opportunities, they also reveal incompetence. Crises always require faster action. The higher the speed, however, the larger is the need for competence. High speed combined with incompetence leads to disasters, in almost all areas of our lives – driving, healthcare, finance, government or military.

By now we know that only two phenomena can create wealth, without taking anything away from anyone. These are called Productivity and Trade. In Part 1 we discussed Productivity. In Part 2, we will discuss International Trade.

Wealth creation and wealth redistribution are by far the most important areas in economics, finance and lots of other fields. Wealth creation is complex, but we will try to communicate in simple terms, without losing its essence. To make it simpler and easier to read, we have decided to break this report into two parts.

Over the last few months, we have witnessed a lot of discussions on how governments have handled the COVID pandemic. Many have argued that countries such as China have done a better job because they have a “command and control” system that is more effective in times of crises.