Narrow Results

This chapter describes how economic models are used to answer questions about policy changes, specifically in the context of a carbon fee-and-dividend system. A carbon fee-and-dividend is a price on carbon dioxide emissions that returns the revenues gained to ordinary households in the form of a monthly check. The chapter describes, in nontechnical terms, the economic models and modeling processes involved and how they are similar and different from climate models…

The MEASA region forms a crescent of countries beginning with Bangladesh and India in the East, continuing through the Middle East and West Africa, and terminating with the South African nations. This grouping of countries has a long history of cultural, economic, and political advantages and achievements. One need only consider the energy riches of the Middle East, the mineral, agricultural, and fishery resources of Africa, or the large and educated population of India to understand the potential for the region. The MEASA region covers 45% of the worlds population and is expected to be one of the most rapidly growing regions. Moreover, the MEASA region is approximately 18% of global GDP and is likely to grow at much faster than developed countries in the coming decade. Our study reports that the MEASA region stocks have produced exceptional returns and returns relative to risk compared to MSCI Emerging Markets stocks, Frontier Market stocks, and World Index stocks during the January 2003 to September 2017 time period. The situation today in the MEASA region countries seems like the situation in the BRICs countries in the early 2000s. As happened with the BRICs countries, the barriers to investing in the MEASA region are being removed as we write. Innovative investment advisors are set to offer mechanisms to access these markets. The rewards will go to those visionary investors who are able to first see the possibilities.

Did Ming mariners explore the Americas?

This chapter analyses the Americas depicted on the world map Kunyu Wanguo Quantu ⟪坤輿萬國全圖⟫ or the Complete Geographical Map of All the Kingdoms of the World, published by Matteo Ricci in 1602 in China. The work thoroughly examines the region’s 17 original annotations, and the history and coordinates of 241 geographical items: one unnamed river which I conclude to be the Mississippi River, 17 named rivers, three named lakes and 220 other geographical items of chiefdoms/ kingdoms, regions, cities/towns/villages, mountains, islands, bays, gulfs, seas and oceans. These geographical items are compared with their counterparts on the three major sixteenth century European maps and today’s map. The comparison involves identifying more than one thousand geographical coordinates based on different Primary Meridians used by these maps. The results show that (1) the Americas of Kunyu Wanguo Quantu are of Chinese origin; Matteo Ricci merely edited the Chinese source map to make it look more European; and (2) the Ming Treasure Fleets led by Admiral Zheng He (郑和) to the Western Ocean have explored the Americas.

Additional findings are: (1) the Americas of Kunyu Wanguo Quantu reflect the political landscape of the region between 1400 and 1428, decades before Christopher Columbus set foot in the Bahamas; (2) after taking into account other Chinese historical records, this political era can be narrowed to between the 1420s and 1428, a period overlapping with the sixth voyage of Zheng He’s Treasure Fleets but preceding their seventh (and last) voyage, implying the geographical data contained in the Americas on Kunyu Wanguo Quantu were obtained during their sixth voyage; (3) the map shows correctly and uniquely the southernmost tip of the South American mainland (Cape Froward), the southwestern tip of Alaska (Cape Peirce; also the westernmost tip of the American continent), and the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean (Arctic Ocean); (4) the map shows correctly that Cape Breton Island in the east coast of the Americas was separated into two islands by an ancient Chinese-built canal; and (5) this work lends support to the claim that Chinese might have migrated to the Americas more than 4,000 years ago as written in Shan Hai Jing ⟪山海經⟫ or Classic of Mountains and Seas.