5/5/20: A simple view of Globalization: some thoughts

Globalization in  retreat chart via PIIE: https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economic-issues-watch/pandemic-adds-momentum-deglobalization-trend

A neat visual summary of the extent of economic openness and globalization, via trade dimension alone. The caveats here are that this only captures trade in goods & services flows (see https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2017/05/are-you-open/), but ignores capital flows and the extent of globalization-induced complexity within modern economic systems.

We tend to think about globalization as a mass-type measurement, where the volume or the value of flows is what matters. Alas, things are more complex. Mass measurements should be properly adjusted for risks inherent in the flows and stocks, including geopolitical risks. Imagine a flow of goods from China to the U.S. as opposed to the same volume flow of the same goods from China to Ecuador. Geopolitical risks and uncertainties, as well as non-monetary costs/values involved in the two flows are distinct. Similarly, consider a set stock of capital from the U.S. domiciled in, say, the Netherlands as opposed to, say, in Russia. Once again, even when nominal values are identical, risk-adjusted values are distinct.

In simple terms, as neat as the above chart might be, it does not even begin to reflect the VUCA/risk-indicative nature and volumes of globalization-related flows and stocks.

6/12/18: Are Younger Americans More Comfortable With a Multipolar World?

When it comes to challenging status quo heuristics, the younger generations usually pave the way. The same applies to the heuristics relating to geopolitical environment. While the older generations of Americans appear to be firmly stuck in the comfort-seeking status quo ante of 'Cold War'-linked hegemonic perception of the world around us - the basis for which is the alleged positive exceptionalism of the U.S. confronted by the negative exceptionalism of Russia and, increasingly, China, Americans of younger cohorts are starting to comprehend the reality of multipolar world we inhabit.

At least, according to the Pew Research data:

The gap between the tail generations (the Z-ers and the Boomers) is massive, and the spread within the generations is relatively more compressed for the Z-ers.

6/12/18: When it comes to geopolitical & socio-economic anxiety, Europe's problem is European

Europe is a sitting duck for major geopolitical risk, but the U.S. is getting there too:

And volatility surrounding the uncertainty measure is also out of line for Europe, both in levels and trends:

Just as the Global Financial Crisis in Europe was not caused by the U.S. financial meltdown, even if the latter was a major catalyst to the former, so is the current period of extreme policy anxiety and instability is not being driven by the emergence of the Trump Administration. Europe's problem seems to be European.

25/3/18: Quantum computing and cyber security: a perfectly VUCA mix?

One interesting topic worth discussing in the context of VUCA and systemic resilience is quantum computing. The promise of quantum computing offers a prospect of altering completely the existent encryption methods effectiveness. 

Here is one view:  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361372317300519 suggesting that quantum computing is not a threat to current cryptographic systems, although the core argument here is that it is not a threat in its current state.

Less (scientifically) robust arguments to the opposite side are, for example, in https://www.wired.com/story/quantum-computing-is-coming-for-your-data/, and http://approachinfinity.ca/RecentPublications/Quantum-computing-overview.pdf 

Geopolitically, this puts quantum computing into an important security race position: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0190646 and https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-03-25/everybody-was-quantum-fighting-those-computers-were-fast-lightning 

There is a lot of technical stuff involved, but an interesting topic from geopolitical risks perspective for sure, and involves long term strategic positioning by the usual adversaries, the U.S. and China. 

Beyond this issue, there are also implications of quantum computing in broader cybersecurity context, including enforcement and  monitoring: https://www.wired.com/story/quantum-computing-is-the-next-big-security-risk/, https://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-quantum-computing-could-create-unbreakable-encryption-and-save-the-future-of-cybersecurity/, and https://futurism.com/future-cybersecurity-quantum-encryption/.

25/2/18: Syria: a Web of VUCA

In his column this week, Tyler Cowen, of Bloomberg View, sums up the VUCA nature of the ongoing conflict in Syria. In fact, his article is more fundamental than that. He paints a coherent picture of how Syria conflict serves as a fertile ground for growth of Black Swan-type tail risks (risks of large scale impact events with low or zero historical predictability).

In simple terms, in Syria, the U.S. and Russia (and their auxiliary proxies) combine three key VUCA factors:

• Ambiguity: represented by the inability to distinguish and delineate clearly the adversarial actors involved in each individual incident: Russian proxies are met with American proxies, amidst a veritable soup of various other actors;
• Uncertainty: represented by lack of clear, stated in advance, and transparently enforced objectives by major actors, most commonly the U.S., but also Russia and Iran;
• Complexity: captured by a complex web of interests, internal-to-Syria and global objectives, etc. 

As Cowen correctly warns, incidents like the alleged Russian proxies-led attack on the U.S. and Kurdish compound can create a potential for a large scale risk materialization or blow-out. Or, put into more academic language,  VUCA environment is self-sustaining: ambiguity, uncertainty and complexity interact to produce a cyclical reinforcement of Volatility (risk). The vicious cycle repeats, amplifying the extent to which VUCA impact (size of the potential forthcoming systemic shock), likelihood (probability of a systemic forthcoming shock), proximity (timing of the systemic shock) and velocity (speed with which the forthcoming shock arrives) rise.


Read Cowen's article in full here: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-23/us-s-killing-of-russians-in-syria-is-harbinger-of-more-violence and read these excellent descriptors of how complexity of Syrian conflict is evolving: https://taskandpurpose.com/complexity-syrias-war-catching-us/ and here: http://www.periscopic.com/news/removing-confusion-from-complexity.