Weekend reading

Some things to consider on the weekend:

• Australia's social and political divide: When outsiders look at countries like Australia and Canada, they just see a resource-based economy. This is an excellent story about the social and economic divide in Australia between the mining based economy in the west and the finance and manufacturing in the southeast. Here in Canada we have a similar problem with the mining and energy economies of BC/Alberta/Saskatchewan/Newfoundland and the population heavy manufacturing/finance of southern Ontario and (partly) Quebec.
• David Wilmott worries about algo-based high frequency trading (HFT) excesses. Be prepared for more flash-crash like volatility?
• See this fascinating video on the effects of wealth on population health (via Slope of Hope). These are important points to consider for emerging market investors when thinking about development economics.