New Year’s Day is always special, but for Finland in 2002, the day was very, very special. In the afternoon, I walked across Esplanade Park in Helsinki heading to a restaurant and stopped by on an ATM to withdraw money.

The cash machine did not give me Finnish marks, as it would have done the day before, but pumped out euro notes.

My home country had a new currency. I was holding my first euros in my hands.

Euro had come into existence virtually on January 1, 1999, and now, two years later, notes and coins started to circulate. Eleven EU countries took part in common currency’s first phase, and Finland was one of them – alone in Northern Europe.

I was an undergraduate student and did not have much on my bank account but I was thrilled about the euro. I no longer needed to exchange money when travelling to Central Europe. I bemoaned euro hadn’t been there already year before when I spent an exchange semester in a journalism school in Brussels.

I thought my Swedish and Danish friends were so unlucky not to be part of the joy. Their countrymen had rejected euro membership in referendums and they still had their boring crones.

I considered very carefully how much Finnish marks I would save for the future as a reminder of the “old times”. People said that some day marks could be considered rare items of collection. Would I want to give marks to my children some day?

The dual circulation period lasted two months, and at the end of February 2002, I put some mark notes and coins to an envelope. Shops no longer accepted them. I solemnly thought they were for the future generations.

 

I couldn’t have guessed that just 15 years later there would be serious talks about getting marks back as our currency, as soon as possible.

No one is celebrating euro anymore. It is now the common currency in 19 out of 28 EU countries and used by nearly 340 million people every day – and it has become a synonym of a crisis.

In 2015, Finland’s economy is in recession nearly for the fourth consecutive year, and many blame euro.

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paavo Väyrynen, is one of the loudest critics. Last summer the stubborn old statesman started collecting signatures for a petition to get Finland’s departure of euro membership before the Finnish parliament.

I have no idea where my envelope of old Finnish marks has gotten. Should I start looking for it?

Could I possibly use them one day?

 

Paavo Väyrynen, at present a member of the European parliament, says that with the petition he is doing what is necessary. With its own currency, Finland could reign its own monetary policy and devalue.

Finns remember what devaluation means, as it solved the country’s most severe peacetime crisis in 1993. Economy overheated largely due to a change in the banking laws in 1986.

Eventually Finland let mark float and adjustment mechanisms worked. More competitive exchange rates enabled the country sell its products at a cheaper price.

Väyrynen was elected into Finnish parliament for the first time in 1970, and he’s served in eight cabinet of ministers of Finland. He’s now got over 50,000 signatures on the petition which means Finnish parliament might to have a look at the issue. Väyrynen wants the parliament to debate whether the country should exit eurozone and to enact a law that would make “Fixit” – Finland’s euro exit – possible.

In his opinion, the elite of the country cannot admit they made a mistake.

”Elite does not want this topic even to be discussed,” Väyrynen wrote me.

I asked him why did he decide to collect signatures – and what are his party colleagues thinking of it. Väyrynen’s party Keskusta – The Center – is Finland’s prime minister party at the very moment, and Prime Minister Juha Sipilä is not criticizing euro at all – on the contrary.

Väyrynen answered me saying he is sure his petition will proceed into the parliament and as he no longer has official status in Finland he feels the petition is justified as a method of exercise of power.

Väyrynen has objected euro and Finland entering the eurozone from the beginning. His party was eurosceptic but as soon as it won the election last spring, the ones in power have committed themselves to the common currency. The official stand is that euro brings “stability”.

Väyrynen says that half of his party does not believe in that but the others remain silent.

 

On December 10, 2015, the governor of the Bank of Finland, Erkki Liikanen, held a press conference about the economic situation of Finland. I watched it online (here: http://cloud.magneetto.com/suomenpankki/2015_1210_liikanen/angular). It was a very monotonous talk for which Liikanen had given a very dry and long title. The translation into English would be something like: “About economics, monetary policy and financial stability in Finland. Ten year’s economic development 2007-2017 from five different perspectives.”

I was anyway curious to find out what Liikanen’s five perspectives were, as other experts seemed to have just one viewpoint. The economy of Finland is miserable, no matter where you look at it.

In the third quarter of this year, Finland’s economy contracted by 0.6 percent. Odds are that this year will end up being the country’s fourth consecutive year of recession.

There are – for now – some nice numbers and qualifications related to Finnish economy: rating AAA- of sovereign debt. Quite moderate 62 percent government debt-to-GDP ratio. Ranking among the top ten most competitive economies in the world by the World Economic Forum.

But these don’t seem to help (and the last one, in my opinion, has to be a miscalculation).

Finland’s debt-to-GDP ratio is now nine percent bigger than in 2007. The Bank of Finland estimates it to grow from present 62 percent to 68 percent by 2017.

Between 2008 and 2014 Finnish exports shrunk by 12 percent.

This is why country’s Prime Minister Sipilä’s goal is to bring about internal devaluation as quickly as possible. The former businessman has been in power since the spring 2015 and has shaken the Finnish political culture. He is ruling like a CEO, not like a negotiator. He is determined to get the labor costs down in spite of the trade unions’ strong objection.

He believes in austerity, as does the governor of the Bank of Finland Erkki Liikanen.

 

In the press conference Liikanen offered five familiar explanations to Finland’s state, no fresh viewpoints.

Finland’s overall production is in a downturn because both productivity and the amount of workers are decreasing.

The age structure of Finland is a disaster. According to the Bank of Finland’s estimate, in 2017, there will be 200,000 more pensioners, 50,000 more unemployed, 5,000 more under 15-year-olds and 50,000 less workers than in 2007.

In the third quarter of 2015, the value of exports was 19 percent smaller than in the second quarter of 2008, which was the best economic quarter of 2000s in Finland. ”No other developed country has seen this big decline in exports during these years,” Liikanen said and reminded us that Finland’s eastern neighbor Russia, the main export market, is in a ”deteriorating economic state”.

Bank of Finland estimates that between 2007 and 2017 the debt to GDP ratio will raise from 53 percent to 68 percent. The same time the deficit in the whole eurozone is about to decrease by two percent in the average.

Because pensioners and unemployed now bring more costs, the government of Finland has less to spend on other areas. In 2007, money spent on pensions was 29 percent of country’s budget. In 2017, it will be 32 percent.

”Actions are necessary,” Liikanen said in the end, not surprisingly.

Necessary actions, according to Liikanen, include improving cost competitiveness and restructuring the pension system and social security system. People should a have more active work years in their lives, he continued.

”Electronic and forest industry are highly cost competitive areas of business.”

Electronic industry have suffered from Nokia’s collapse. It used to be the biggest employer of Finland and played a major role in exports. Forest industry is still the basis of Finland’s exports. But:

”Salaries have risen more than in the eurozone on average, and at the same time, Finnish companies’ ability to pay salaries have gotten worse. Companies must be able to offer their products overseas with competitive prices,” Liikanen said in his laconic style.

He added that Finland needs less regulation and more competition. He undoubtedly meant that trade unions have too much much power. Finland is ranked 103rd out of 144 countries for labor flexibility in 2015 by the World Economic Forum.

”When there are new entrepreneurs, there is more competition and thus more innovations,” Liikanen said.

 

As the Governor of the Bank of Finland Liikanen is also a member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank and a Governor of the International Monetary Fund for Finland.

He has strong ties to European Union’s institutions. In 1990, he became the first Finnish ambassador to the European Union and in 1994 he became the first Finnish Member of the European Commission. He was Commissioner for Budget, Personnel and Administration.

I wouldn’t expect him to critisize euro. But I would have expected him to talk more about ECB:s monetary policy.

All he said was: ”Monetary policy is already supporting the recovery of national economics but as the interest rates are low, we must take care that negative side effects do not occur. So macroeconomical stability policy is needed.”

Liikanen pointed out that statistics show that Finland has used more mechanisms of finance policy than any other country in eurozone to help its’ economy to recover.

He rejected stimulation by saying:” Because Finland’s problems lie in exports, stimulation is not an answer. The biggest losses are in the industry, whereas the service sector has grown. This is why raising the internal demand by stimulus is not a solution. However, public investments that are likely to accelerate private investments are to be implemented.”

Finland’s largest sector of the economy is services at 65.7 percent. Manufacturing and refining together make up 31.4 percent. Primary production is 2.9 percent.

 

Journalist Simon Nixon sounded just like the Finnish government on November 25, 2015, when he wrote on Wall Street Journal that “Finland’s Problem Isn’t the Euro”.

”It is easy to exaggerate the role devaluation played in the British and Swedish recoveries”, Nixon wrote.

Sweden has cut its public spending from over 60 percent of GDP in the mid-1990s to just over 50 percent now. Finland’s public spending is at present 59 percent of GDP.

Finland’s working-age population economically active is five percentage points below that in Sweden — “a serious problem for a country whose workforce is already shrinking as a result of having the worst demographic profile in the EU,” Nixon compared.

He reminded his readers that ”two of the fastest-growing economies in the EU now are Ireland and Spain, both of which are in the eurozone.”

And that Finland has benefited from unprecedentedly low funding costs since the start of the euro crisis. ”That reflects Finland’s high levels of fiscal credibility, based on its low debt and deficits and its commitment to complying with the eurozone’s fiscal rules.”

Helena Yli-Renko, Assistant Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship at University of California, also emphasizes the positive effects euro has had. Common currency has helped Finnish companies to grow global, she said to me. ”Common currency has been a way of simplifying processes.”

 

Opinions about euro are many and mixed so I asked even more of them.

Unto Hämäläinen is eminent political commentator in Finland and senior editor of the leading newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. He pointed out that, first of all, Paavo Väyrynen has revenge going on with his petition.

Väyrynen is bitter of not getting minister’s post after this year’s elections, after which he decided to stay in The European Parliament and get back at the party’s leader, Prime Minister Sipilä. Väyrynen is an attention seeker, Hämäläinen said.

Hämäläinen in convinced that Fixit won’t happen and is not even discussed about because the two parties that were originally against euro are now the two ruling parties of Finland. In Finnish parliament, there is no party that would support Fixit.

Another journalist, prominent economic writer Paavo J. Teittinen says that he believes Finland would be better off without euro. He himself supports Fixit, but he does not believe mark will ever come back. In Teittinen’s opinion, it’s ridiculous that Finnish politicians blame other countries for not following the euro regulations because the biggest problem in euro is the regulations themselves. Currency it’s not planned well at all.

Euro was just a mission of peace in Europe.

It allowed Finland to position itself in the core of Europe and away from the unpredictable Russia.

Ove the years the ones who have been against euro are the ”foolish conservatives” or the ”provincialists”. The populist right-wing party Perussuomalaiset had the departure of euro in their agenda – until they became a governing party.

Many others are just unrationally attached to euro.

 

 

Teittinen hopes that the possibility of the exit would anyway be studied thoroughly and discussed seriously.

We do not want to be in a situation where we face more troubles and ask ourselves silently if they are due to a malfunctioning currency.

I agree.

I will not climb to the attic to look for my envelope full of Finnish marks. Not yet.

 

Sources also: The Wall Street Journal

Bank of Finland

Helsingin Sanomat

The World Economic Forum.

It’s lunch time in Westlake Elementary school in Mississippi, the fattest state in the fattest country in the Western world. Uniformed lunch ladies stand ready behind the counter. Elementary students line up with trays in hand. Yes to chocolate milk, yes to chicken nuggets, yes to cheese fries, yes to orange jelly, no to salad. Bowls of iceberg lettuce and cherry tomatoes sit rim to rim, rejected.

Persuading children to eat vegetables is hardly a new struggle, nor would it seem to rank high on the list of world priorities. In an age of abundance, individuals have the luxury of eating what they like. Yet the U.S., for all its libertarian ethos, is now worrying about how its citizens eat and how much exercise they do. But it is no surprise, as it has become an issue of national concern.

The statistics are grim: Roughly two out of three U.S. Adults are overweight. This is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or more, which for a man standing 5’9’’ means a weight of 170 pounds or more. Alarmingly, 36% of adults and 17% of children are not just overweight but obese with a BMI of at least 30, meaning they weigh 200 pounds or more at the same height. If current trends continue, by 2030 nearly half of American adults could be obese.

Americans may be shocked by these numbers, but for the rest of the world, they fit the stereotype. Burgers, sodas and fried foods are considered as American as the Stars and Stripes. But there is a glimmer of good news. After two decades of dramatic growth, childhood obesity rates are showing signs of leveling off. Government researchers at Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) have even reported slight declines among certain subgroups (such as young children and girls), leading some experts to speculate that the epidemic may have reached its peak.

But this turn around applies to some kids more than others. A closer look at the data indicates that this average decline doesn’t tell the whole story.

The researchers looked at adolescent obesity (an important predictor of adult obesity) by analyzing two large health surveys done by the NHANES and NSCH. While they confirmed that the obesity rate among adolescents is no longer climbing — after it “more than doubled over the past three decades” — this did not hold true across different socioeconomic groups.

Obesity is decreasing amongst adolescents who come from well-educated families, but it has continued to increase in poor teens. Looking at the obesity rate overall, this reads as a plateau.

It is unfair to aggregate trends in groups that are so different, the reality of the situation becomes unclear and misleading.

For adolescents whose parents have at least a college degree (black dots), obesity is on the decline. But for those whose parents have no more than a high school diploma (red dots), obesity rates are still rising — and the gap seems to be getting larger. (The short lines above and below the dots show the possible margin of error.)

Why are the rates of obesity so different among members of different socioeconomic groups, to the point where they are actually trending in opposite directions? The answer is more complicated than it might seem.

Exercise

A difference in exercise habits, not just eating habits, has been driving the obesity gap in children and adolescents. Take a look at the physical activity chart, which seem to mirror the obesity rate charts above:

On the left, NHANES, counts children as active in the if they had at least 10 minutes of physical activity in the past 30 days, an alarmingly low standard. On the right, NSCH counts children as “active” if they had at least 20 minutes of physical activity in the past seven days.

The disparity in rates of physical activity increased sharply in 2010 just like the disparity in obesity rates.

While the proportion of high socioeconomic-status adolescents has stayed about the same in recent years (most recently 94.7%), the latest NHANES counted just 82.1% of low socioeconomic-status adolescents as active — down from 90% in 2003.

Though there isn’t an exact reason for what’s causing the different levels of physical activity, a potential reason might be due to money and opportunities. Adolescents from poorer families are less likely to participate in school sports, which can cost money, and are more likely to attend schools that have had to reduce or eliminate their sports programs.

Parks and recreational facilities are funded by tax dollars collected within the surrounding area. In wealthier neighborhoods, tax revenue is higher and residents of the area will insist on these establishments. As a consequence, low income neighborhoods do not have as many parks or space to exercise. Though this is not the case everywhere, it is the case for many. The few opportunities combined with the safety of a neighborhood can affect whether kids are able or allowed to run outside or use parks or other recreational facilities.

A lead researcher at Xiaozhong Wen, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, shares interesting theories to the dramatic increase of obesity rates in adolescents whose family incomes are the below the poverty line. He draws his conclusions from distinguishing families based on needs of medicaid. “The health insurance is a proxy, or indicator, for some underlying… reasons for this disparity,” he says. “I think it might be the family environment, how the parents feed the children, how do they control or monitor the child’s eating or physical activity.”

Compared to more affluent children, Wen says, kids on Medicaid may be less likely to live in neighborhoods where they can play and exercise safely outdoors, and their caretakers are less likely to have access to supermarkets selling fresh, healthy foods.

Upper and middle-class adolescents are also four times as likely as lower class adolescents to have a regular doctor, so they may be more exposed to the importance of regular exercise. More contact with doctors, safer neighborhoods, more green space and better school programs may be part of the solution to encourage kids and adolescents to exercise. They doesn’t have to be competing in state level sports, healthy changes like a walk to the grocery store or an active video game can lead to positive results.

Parental Guidance

Parents of lower income families that lack education and job mobility are likely to work in low wage jobs with long hours. They have less time to be physically active and to encourage a healthy lifestyle for their kids from a young age. And when time and money are tight, it is cheaper to rely on fast-food meals than to buy and prepare fresh food.

In recent decades gender equality has improved and the work force is accepting more women. However, this improvement may have resulted in the growing percent overweight kids. A new study released in the Journal Child Development finds, “For each additional five-month period his or her mother is employed, a child of average height can be expected to gain 1 extra pound over and above normal growth” In addition, sixth graders with working mothers were found to be six times more likely than those with stay-at-home moms to be overweight.

Mothers who have jobs don’t directly cause weight problems in their children, but busy families may accelerate weight gain by relying too much on cheap convenient fast food rather than healthy meals. Food and lifestyle choices are definitely the direct cause of obesity, but it can also occur against a backdrop of physical and psychological challenges that can make weight watching a low priority.

In a recent study, published in Pediatrics, found that preschool-age girls in big cities were more likely to be obese if they had undergone stressful experiences such as witnessing household violence, having a mother who was depressed or abusing alcohol or drugs, or living in a tenuous housing situation.

Growing up in a unstable life with violence, moving around a lot or depression certainly means obesity goes down the rank of importance. These factors, however, were not associated with a higher obesity rate in preschool boys, which highlights the difficulty of making sweeping conclusions about obesity and socioeconomic status.

Children from low income families are hardly a homogenous population, and the relationship between obesity and family income varies wider by gender, age, ethnicity and geographic area.

A 2006 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that looked at several decades of national data found that obesity was strongly tied to socioeconomic status only among white girls. Mexican-American and African-American girls showed similar trends, yet they were still more likely to be obese compared to girls from white families of similar socioeconomic status.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Regardless of age, race and socioeconomic class, girls all around the world strive to be beautiful. Whether it is to achieve the perfect skin tone, the perfect weight or the perfect hair color, many young females have the ability to improve their beauty if they tried hard enough.

The mean BMI of an African American women is 29.8 and mean Caucasian woman is 26.7. Interestingly enough there was no significant difference for BMI for men based on race. Though there is no research to explain this data, we are all quite familiar with the extremely thin standard of beauty immortalized by Barbie.

Sarah Constance from Irvine, Orange County, recalls a teenage memory. “Growing up in a primarily white and asian upper middle class suburb,I remember meeting up with other girls to get ready together before big dances. Each time we would all criticize our own bodies, and bemoan the fact that we weren’t measuring up to the ideal Victoria Secret model.”The girls always talked about what they ate and how much of it, as if it was a contest and the winner was whoever ate the least.

Sarah was surprised when a male from of Mexican heritage told her how sexy it was for girls to have “thick thighs”. A similar appreciation for a more voluptuous body type is also found in African-Americans. This could potentially relate to why Hispanic and African-American women are statically more likely to be obese, since those cultures do not equate such thinness with beauty and sex appeal.

U.S. college tuition is one of the world’s most expensive; yet, Chinese parents are willing to pay the bills for American higher education anyways. In 2014, Chinese students in American colleges and universities alone contributed $9.8 billion to the U.S. economy, according to U.S. Department of Commerce.

As China joins the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, free trade with other countries of all kinds, including the trade of culture and education began to happen. As a result, University campuses in the United States have since accommodated triple times of total international students from China throughout the past ten yeas. Currently, students from China make up about 29 percent of total international students studying in the United States (WSJ). In the academic year of 2014/15, total number of students from China studying in the U.S. is 304,040, which is a 10.8% increase from previous year. Compared to ten years ago, when total Chinese students studying in the U.S. was around 62,582, the number today has more than tripled. Among all Chinese students currently studying in the US, or one year post-graduating from colleges, a majority of 41 percent are pursuing undergraduate degrees, 39.6 percent are graduate students, 5.3 percent are enrolled in other institutions such as private boarding high schools, and 14.2 percent are in the process of Optional Practical Training (OPT).

The growth in number of international students coming to the U.S. has created “significant positive economic impact” on the United States, commented the Open Doors Data. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, “international students contributed more than $30.5 billion to the U.S. economy” (Open Doors Data).Most international students receive their funding for tuition and general daily expenses from their families overseas. Other than tuition, international students spend money on rent, cars, and daily expenses. For wealthy Chinese kids, expenses also include shopping for luxury goods, paying for vacations and other leisure expenses.

College tuition in the U.S. is not cheap. In fact, the US has one of the world’s most expensive higher education system in the world. On average, a private four-year institute costs from $45,000 to $50,210 per academic year. A public four-year institute, such as University of California—Los Angeles (UCLA) costs $12,753 for in-state students and $35, 631 for out-of-state students. Unlike most domestic students in the United States, for most international students, college tuition fee comes entirely out-of-pocket. American students have the option of applying for Federal student loans and pay back their tuition gradually after graduation; however, most international students are ineligible for financial aid or student loans, they have no other option than paying their bills all at once. About 64 percent of Chinese students cover 100 percent of their college education cost (Open Doors Data).

There is no surprise that Chinese families are willing to pay for these expensive tuition bills. As part of the Chinese cultural norm, Chinese parents have high expectations for their children. They expect their kids to succeed, which is usually judged by which schools their kids go to, which degrees their kids acquired, what type of jobs their kids do and how much money their kids are capable of making. Therefore, college education is viewed as the first stepping stone for success. Many Chinese families would rather save money to send their children abroad than making investments with their money. As China’s GDP soars after opening the gate for free trade, overall improving economic conditions in China allow more Chinese families to send their children overseas to receive higher education with higher quality.Additionally, because of China’s one-child policy, most college-age students are “only children” of their families; thus their parents, their grandparents might spoil him/her by granting financial support for luxurious lifestyle while studying abroad. The United States, known for its high quality in education, became one of the most popular destinations for studying abroad. 

Based on recent trends in leap of students coming from China, many people cannot help but wonder: are numbers of Chinese students in the U.S. booming since the 2000s because of their excellent academic performance or simply because they are profitable?

Chinese students applying to US colleges and universities with fake high school transcripts, fake recommendation letters is almost old news. Service agencies in China that assist students with their college applications charge students various amount of service fees, based on the number and rank of schools that students intend to apply to. The wave of a growing study-abroad population has created a rising new market for service agencies in China, where fraud is a norm.

The real problem is, once these students step into their admitted colleges and universities, their academic performance do not match with their application resume. In order that these students become capable of joining mainstream programs, some schools provide language courses for international students whose language fluency level has not met the mainstream class standards yet. Of course, these intense language courses are not free, a 15 week intensive english program usually cost $5395.

However, some Chinese students facing academic struggles opted for other tacks. Since the 2012/13 academic year, universities in the U.S. have expelled as many as 8,000 Chinese students in three years (Kutner, Newsweek). The most common reasons for suspension and expulsion is cheating, plagiarism, and low academic performance. “I became aware of some services that Chinese students pay for getting their essays written, getting their exams taken and so on”, says Nansong Huang, a professor teaching Chinese literature courses at USC, “I think these students are wasting their parents’ money.”

Throwing back to ten years ago, when few Chinese students came to study in the United States, much fewer suspension and expulsion cases have been reported. One reason might have been the lack of social exposure back then, another reason is that compared to Chinese students now, most students came to study with full scholarship or financial aids provided by universities ten years ago. The group of students from China on US university campuses today are no longer the 1 percent most talented, intelligent and hardworking students; instead, they are more likely to have wide ranges of interests, passion for American culture and more willing to join fraternities and sororities. Therefore the images of Chinese students studying in the U.S. today is entirely different from the “nerdy” Asian image before.

This is a result of American colleges and universities’ expansion on their international enrollment since 2000. Since the 2000s, American higher educational institutions have been raising tuition fees at the rate of 2.8 percent approximately. For example, USC’s tuition fee in 2005 was $44, 582 per year; today, USC’s tuition has reached $66,754 per year, an increase of almost 50 percent.

In American higher educational institutions, about 40 percent of institutional revenues for colleges and universities come from tuition, the rest consists of endowment and other income, state/local appropriations and federal appropriations. For domestic students, tuition is paid by Federal aid, non-federal aid and students themselves, among which Federal aid including loans, grants, tax benefits and work-study make up 55 percent (Department of the Treasury). For international students, tuition is mostly paid by themselves. This explains why US universities cannot resist the attraction of international students. 

However, complains have been voiced by domestic students in the US, arguing that international students have “crowded local students out of their own state schools” (Stephens, Washington Monthly). “The university (USC) has admitted too many international students, in my opinion,” comments Professor Huang, “Resources at the university compared to the size of the student body is immensely inadequate. Sometimes professors have to argue with the university when assigned class schedules and classrooms, because no one wants to teach a Friday class.”

Some institutions such as UCLA are making new policies to restrict the number of out-of-state and international undergraduate students admitted each year, in order to create more opportunities for in-state students while preserving high student academic quality. “But the reality is”, says Professor Huang, “the university needs the money from international students, thus it is a difficult bargain.” “For many institutions who are looking to balance their budgets, increasing the number of students from countries where they’re willing to pay full tuition is a strategy”, says Michael Bastedo, director of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan (Kutner, Newsweek).

Professor Huang predicted that “as anti-corruption policies tighten up in China, there might be a decrease in the number of Chinese students overseas in the future.” Meanwhile, as Chinese college-age population shrinks, the sudden boom in study-abroad is likely to slow down in the future. China’s economic slowdown might also lead to some changes in Chinese’s saving and spending choices. In addition, Chinese education department is working on retaining high school students in the country’s local universities while attracting students from overseas to come to China. On the other hand, US universities would still remain an attractive destination for Chinese students pursuing higher education. In the meantime, US universities’ interest in Chinese students will not fade away anytime soon. Chinese students, together with international students from other parts of the world, not only bring economic benefit to the United States, but also contribute intellectually in areas such as the STEM fields. Therefore, the relationship between Chinese students and US universities might still remain positive in the future.

 

http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/Fact-Sheets-by-Country/2015

http://www.wsj.com/articles/international-students-stream-into-u-s-colleges-1427248801

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/september_october_2013/features/international_students_separat046454.php?page=all

https://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Documents/20121212_Economics%20of%20Higher%20Ed_vFINAL.pdf

http://blog.collegetuitioncompare.com/2012/12/usc-tuition-cost-10-years.html

http://www.newsweek.com/us-colleges-expelled-many-8000-chinese-students-3-years-337445

“Hey, have you seen the BuzzFeed video I shared on Facebook yesterday?”

Instead of saying “Hey, have you seen the headline for the newspaper yesterday?”, nowadays a daily conversation between two friends often begins with discussing the trending articles/topics on BuzzFeed and other social media sites. The Internet has been selected as one of the most important inventions in human history. It brings us convenience, provides us a chance to connect with the rest of the world at our fingertips, further accelerates the evolution of print journalism, and starts a new chapter for digital journalism.

When looking specifically at the way content is distributed to audiences, from the beginning of 1800s to the 21^st century, the development of newspaper can be divided into three main eras, Push, Pull, and the combination of Push and Pull. The Push era started with the birth of traditional journalism and newspapers. The word “Push” essentially means providing content, or pushing content toward its audience. For instance, news reporters will pursue and generate stories that are assigned by their editors and the audience will become a receiver of the stories and information provided by the newspaper. In the Push era, advertisement plaid an important role in the way newspapers operated. Aside from annual subscription fees, advertisements became a major revenue source for the newspapers. Take prominent newspaper, The Huffington Post, as an example; in order to attract audiences of all types to read its newspaper, The Huffington Post delivers new stories and content on a wide variety of topics such as “Politics, business, entertainment, environment, technology, popular media, lifestyle, culture, comedy, healthy living, women’s interests, and local news” through multiple platforms. (“The Huffington Post”, 2013) Huffington Post’s online website generates huge levels of viewership, making it extremely valuable to advertisers seeking high-visibility advertising space. Its’ uncanny ability to attract viewership valued it at above 300 million at the time it was sold to its current parent company, AOL.

In 2014, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) data, “both weekday and Sunday circulation of newspapers fell around 3% from the previous year.” (Barthel, 2015) With the decline of circulation, newspapers and journalists were trying to develop new ways to attract the audience. Demand Media, an Internet and content driven company based in Santa Monica, California, serves as an example of the Pull era. Owning online website eHow and Cracked, Demand Media is known for its ability to generate content based on its audiences’ needs, and enables its content creators to reach larger audiences in various categories. Demand Media’s “eHow” website owns massive amounts of articles and more than 2 million videos for its users to find answers to their questions and encourage its users to share their experiences with each other. By means of extensive research, Demand Media understands what kind of content its users need, and creates websites based on its category. The company also believes that content wouldn’t survive without community and conversation. Besides the website eHow, which focuses on topics such as cooking recipes, decorations and lifestyles, Demand Media has also created the on-line website “Cracked” in order to fulfill the needs of the younger generation and audiences who are interested in light-hearted content.

Although Demand Media and its content-driven websites have been very successfully in the first few years, critics have cast doubt on Demand Media and other similar websites’ abilities to “place search engine optimization goals over factual relevance” in order to obtain high amount of revenue in advertising. Through multiple analysis on Google search and the realization of what content is needed by the mass public, Demand Media utilizes its freelancers to create fast and cheap content. It is using the quantity over quality strategy. “No need for quality content produced by well-paid journalists: if you know how to perform search engine optimization, your low quality, rapidly-produced video or “article” will top Google’s results and dwarf playing-by-the-book regular media’s traffic.” (Decugis, 2011)

With the birth of the Internet, more and more people, especially younger generation, prefer to consume news online relative to the percentage of people who consume news via television. Nonetheless, the percentage of people who consume news on the Internet, which 40%, is still 30% lower when compared to the percentage of people who consume news on the television, which is 70%. The percentage of people who consume news on the Internet is continuing to rise, while on the other hand, the percentage of people who consume news on the television is continuing to fall throughout the years. (Grabowicz, 2014) In both the Push and Pull eras there has existed a one-way communication between newspaper and its audiences. In the Push era, reporters and newspapers possess the bargaining power between the communications. The audience accepted and received news content that was selected and being processed by the newspapers. In the Pull era, the audience retrieved the bargaining power; they have the say in what content should be produced.

Different than the Push and the Pull era, the combination of the Push and Pull era enables two-way communication between news organizations and its audiences. Rather than one side holding the bargaining power, in the combination of the push and the pull era, both side of the communication serve as the provider and the receiver. In the combination of the Push and Pull era, BuzzFeed is one of the most successful examples. Jonah Peretti and several others co-founded BuzzFeed, a social news and entertainment company, in 2006 in New York City. Besides generating breaking news, entertainment news, and videos, BuzzFeed creates Quizzes to better engage with its audience. It currently has more than 200 million monthly unique visitors, with the number still growing rapidly. Recognizing the potential traffic its audience might bring to the website, BuzzFeed focuses on the shareable aspect in every story and ensures that each story is relatable for its audience. Creative director of BuzzFeed, Philip Byrne, once said “the company spends 50 percent of its time on creating content and 50 percent of its time thinking of how to make it shareable.” (George, 2015) Native advertising is one of the keys to BuzzFeed’s success.

“Native advertising is a form of paid media where the ad experience follows the natural form and function of the user experience in which it is placed.” Tyler James, Sharethrough’s Director, shared before his keynote presentation on native advertising. (Canarte, 2015) Take one of BuzzFeed’s quizzes as an example, “Which Donut Are You?”, in the quiz, the audience is asked a series of questions and based on those results, the audience is told in the end which kind of donut they are. It might not be hard to figure out the donut brand Dunkin Donut is the sponsor of this native advertising. Even though this native advertising is more obvious than the others, in the sub-heading, BuzzFeed put “you have to know” to encourage its audiences to click in. By incorporating native advertising to its website and capturing the important shareable aspect of its new content, BuzzFeed is able to generate content for its audience as the pusher and also as the receiver when receiving personal data from its audiences.

Tsan Chang, the general manager of ETtoday.net, one of the major online news website in Taiwan, has pointed out three future trends that carry possibility to dominate the online news and digital journalism. “ Having the experience to work in newspaper agency, witnessing the transformation of journalism from traditional, which is print journalism, to digital, which is online journalism, and currently working in an online news organization, I think the future trends for journalism as a whole is the rise of the mobile application increase dependence on social media, and the combination between data and journalism.”, Chang said.

Nowadays, people reply more and more on their cell phones. The percentage of people checking daily news using the mobile application has increased over the years. Many news organizations have developed their own mobile application in order to attract more audiences. Most of the mobile applications focus on providing as much information as it can to the mobile users in the shortest amount of time. Take the CNN mobile application as an example; when opening the application, major or breaking news content is displayed in the middle. Besides news content, the application notifies the mobile users first-hand breaking news when it happens. When asked whether social media servers as a threat to its online news organization, Chang replied, “instead of a competitor, for our online news organization, it is a plus. We have strong collaboration ties with social media such as Facebook. Many traffic of our website are brought by Facebook; when the audiences browsed through Facebook and saw our Facebook post of the news content, when wanted to know more, they would click on the picture, and that direct the users to our website.”

According to Chang, data servers as much more than an indicator of when to publish, what content to produce, where to post, and how to generate news content. Journalism has encountered a new trend of storytelling exclusively through data. More than just numbers in an excel document, data can take various forms and can be combined through a wide-variety of platforms to tell an interesting story. In the past, eye-catching and sensational content served as the key for online news websites. It attracted audiences and generated massive traffic to their website in order to create advertising revenues. Nowadays, data surpasses content as the key for online news websites.

It might be too early to judge whether the Internet has helped or destroyed the development of journalism. It certainly serves as a major factor and has pushed and accelerated the transformation of journalism from traditional to digital. Many news organizations are forced to change and adapt during the transformation; however, no matter it is pull, push, or pull and push, taker or receiver, journalism remains as an essential aspect of our lives.

 

 

Tucked away in the quiet Arts District of downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) stands the aged brick alleyway of Daily Dose Café, which once served as the primary railroad passage to deliver goods in the city; however, it now operates as a local gathering place for the growing community of entrepreneurs, artists and young professionals settling in the area. Photographers cluster at the entrance of the pathway setting up their camera equipment and preparing for a photo shoot while a group of twenty-something year olds chat and sip their iced coffees at a nearby table. The image of downtown Los Angeles has radically changed within the last few decades. The Daily Dose Café and Arts District are prime examples of the transforming social and physical landscapes that DTLA has undergone in recent years.

Timeworn structures ranging from the historic theatres on Broadway to the old, abandoned warehouses and factories that are scattered throughout the downtown area, especially in the Arts District, are being revitalized and transformed into lofts, hybrid industrial (HI) living and work spaces, restaurants, and bars to appease its latest residents. The redevelopment projects and revitalization efforts to repurpose these existing structures and urban neighborhoods would be considered one of the primordial stages of a process known as gentrification.

What is Gentrification?

The process of gentrification begins when investors and development companies start infiltrating an existing city in an effort to renew and restructure abating areas to accommodate the influx of middle-class and affluent citizens moving into the city. Subsequently, the gentrification process displaces the city’s original, lower-income residents and business owners that are incapable of paying the higher cost of rent to live and operate a business in the city. The debate as to whether or not gentrification is a progressive or adverse development for a city remains at question.

A Change for the Better?

Certainly there are both positive and negative sentiments that could be shared regarding the issue of gentrification depending on whom you ask. Dana Cuff, a professor of architecture and urban design at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), has highlighted a few of the issues that arise when gentrification occurs.

The first problem that would occur would be change in housing affordability, whereas the second would be compromising the overall character of an existing neighborhood as a consequence of the method.

Gentrification challenges the concept of social justice within a city amongst its residents. The process leaves the lower-income residents in the city with no other option than to relocate, as they are now unable to afford the higher living costs of the area. As a result, this in turn causes individuals and families to either become homeless or are forced to transfer to higher crime rate neighborhoods that may leave them more susceptible to gang and street violence.

Additionally, by relocating a city’s indigenous residents, neighborhoods lose the rich cultural identity that it once possessed. Because the culture of the prior neighborhood is not preserved an area that may have once been known as being predominately Hispanic, for example, would lose that unique characteristic value.

On the other hand, a few positive features that are often upheld regarding the justification of gentrification are that it can boost a city’s economic standing as well as establish a platform for the city to ultimately flourish. Gentrification generates jobs and property-tax revenue for a city. Designing and opening dog parks and new coffee shops would purportedly prompt further development in the city, which would increase property-values. City officials and public figures are particularly attracted to the concept of gentrification because it can guarantee monetary advances for a city.

Loretta Lee, a professor of Human Geography at King’s College, disclosed that the financial gains that gentrification presents for a city are great. Lee stated that gentrification aids in a city’s overall effort to garner tourist dollars, new residents and attract more investors in the universal scale of capitalism and competition amongst cities.

Another celebrated effect of gentrification is that it reduces crime rates within cities because greater numbers of law enforcement officers are usually recruited to generate a sense of safety for its newest residents. Typically, along with the gentrification process comes the demand for improved policing.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has stated that implementing community policing, in which law enforcement officers patrol a neighborhood on foot and become personally involved with the community members and develop a safer community by establishing a better relationship with the community, has operated as a significant contributor to the waning crime rates that Los Angeles has been experiencing for the past decade (Aguilar, “LAPD: Crime in Los Angeles).

Moreover, Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti, has revealed that crime rates declined for the 11^th consecutive year as 2013 came to a close. According to Garcetti’s office, Part 1 crimes, which would include homicide, rape and burglary, were down 5.2 percent (“LAPD Highlights Drop”).

Who is Moving Downtown?

There have been numerous articles published in recent years that have pondered and investigated the latest desire that many young Americans possess to move to the golden coast. The New York Times recently published an article stating that many east coast natives are choosing to relocate to Los Angeles for the opportunities that are arising in the business, technology and creative industries.

Examining the demographics provided by the 2013 Downtown of Los Angeles Demographic study, which was published by the Downtown Center BID and the United States Census Bureau’s demographics for Los Angeles County, has revealed that there are approximately 52,400 individuals that reside in downtown, which is nearly double when compared to its 2000 numbers that documented a total of 27,849 residents; and roughly 64 percent of current inhabitants in Downtown Los Angeles rent property.

Of these residents, the average annual household income figure is $98,700. The 2013 average household income figure has increased tremendously when compared to the city’s 2007 average annual household income amount, which was around $54,000 (“Big Numbers and Big Money in Downtown Survey”). Furthermore, the current average rental price for a loft, apartment, or condo is $1,900.

The influx of new residents wanting to settle in Los Angeles can be perceived positively as it will enhance the city’s economic standing, but it begs the question as to where the new occupants will reside.

A Rising Housing Market

Downtown’s rising popularity and its low availability have enabled developers to raise their asking prices for living spaces, and it is growing increasingly common for rental prices to be more than $4 a square foot. Even at $4 a square foot that is about a 50% increase than what prices were a decade ago.

These statistics would indicate that neighborhoods in downtown have become primarily composed of middle and upper class individuals and families. Higher housing costs would clearly create a large disparity between the type of individuals that would be residing downtown, and it would force those whom do not make enough income to move out of the area.

An anecdote that seamlessly illustrates this concept would be that of Vanny Arias. Vanny Arias, whom is a single mother of three residing in a neighborhood a few miles east of Downtown Los Angeles, has revealed that the consequences of gentrification are evident within her community. Arias had to move out of her former home off of Avenue 52 and York Boulevard when rent became unaffordable, and she now resides in a single bedroom apartment with her children. “I can’t help but feel angry. How are they going to raise our rent like that? Everything I know is here.” Arias shared (Solis, “Highland Park Residents”).

As what is demonstrated in Arias’ story, gentrification places one faction of individuals at odds. The California Supreme court attempted to ease the affordable housing crisis that the state is currently facing by passing a housing ordinance that would require developers building 20 or more units to list 15 percent of them below-market price or to pay into a city fund for low-cost housing. But even with the Supreme Courts efforts, housing affordability remains a huge concern for Angelenos as most are unable to keep up with the speed at which housing prices are rising.

For Those Who Can Afford to Stay, Where to Settle?

The city’s redevelopment efforts have extended beyond the constraints of the central downtown area. Redevelopment project are occurring throughout the entire perimeters of Los Angeles County. Gentrification can be observed to the north of downtown around Echo Park and Silverlake, to the east around the Boyle Heights area and to the south and west near USC and Koreatown.

To address these concerns, there have been public hearings held at the Los Angeles City Hall recently regarding the proposal of investors and developers to begin improvement projects to the area Northeast of downtown in hopes of transforming nonoperational factories and warehouses into hybrid industrial living and work spaces.

The proposed Hybrid Industrial Live-Work Zone Ordinance states that the city has a dire need for these transformations.

The ordinance states, “It called for new zones that address the full range of industrial areas found in the City, including industrial mixed use districts—areas that retain a jobs focus but which may support limited residential uses… The proposed zone is a new zoning tool that would permit new construction of live/work, mixed use projects in appropriate industrial areas as a means to implement City policies related to economic development, job retention, and housing production” (“HYBRID INDUSTRIAL LIVE/WORK”).

Jesse Martin, the founder and owner of Value Produce, which is located off Central Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, has witnessed the transformation of downtown since opening his business in 1992. Value Produce is a family owned and operated produce company that supplies Southern California markets with produce from around the world, including: Chile, Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador amongst others. The location of Value Produce cradles the border of the Arts District and the Fashion District in downtown Los Angeles. Both of which locations are appealing areas that investors and developers have already begun renovating.

When questioned about his sentiments regarding gentrification, Martin said that he perceives the process positively. He stated how he could recall the way the city was prior to the changes. “It [Gentrification] allows cities to grow and businesses to grow to help make the economy stronger,” said Martin.

Currently, Martin has over 50 active employees. None of which live downtown, but rather in cities 20 minutes away. Martin shared that he supports the Hybrid Industrial Live-Work Zone Ordinance, as he would like to see more of his employees have an easier commute to work.

“These guys work hard and the commute to and from work could easily take over an hour with traffic. After a hard day’s work – which includes labor intensive tasks like lifting palettes – a long drive is the last thing my guys want to do,” said Martin.

Whether you encourage gentrification or oppose it, the redevelopment process is a part of our country’s past, present and will undoubtedly continue to be present in its future. Aside from Los Angeles, traces of gentrification can be identified in any major city within the United States.

While some entities, such as civic leaders and political actors, encourage redevelopment efforts and gentrification as a measure to improve a city’s value, there remains a faction of others, such as low-income renters, whom oppose the process.

Therefore, as citizens, we must become aware and knowledgeable about issues that will impact us directly, such as gentrification. We must ask questions and truly evaluate at what cost we are paying for this change and to determine if it is really worth it both socially and economically?

 

 

SOURCES

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/big-numbers-and-big-money-in-downtown-survey/article_16ec53d8-cda8-11e0-94dc-001cc4c03286.html

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/01/13/lapd-expected-to-highlight-drop-in-crime-rates-for-11th-straight-year/

http://www.vice.com/read/gentrification-comes-to-las-skid-row-and-the-homeless-get-the-shaft

https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-3718902691.html

http://planning.lacity.org/Documents/policy/HIZoneFAQandOrdinance.pdf

http://www.kcet.org/socal/departures/highland-park/northeast-los-angeles-gentrification-in-comparative-and-historical-context.html

Lomeli, M. (2014). White nostalgic redevelopment: Race, class, and gentrification in downtown los angeles (Order No. 3645664). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1626384695).

http://www.laweekly.com/news/is-gentrification-ruining-los-angeles-or-saving-it-pick-a-side-5342416

http://www.theeastsiderla.com/2014/12/highland-park-residents-share-stories-of-gentrification-during-saturday-night-demonstration-vigil/

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21644164-gentrification-good-poor-bring-hipsters

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/style/los-angeles-and-its-booming-creative-class-lures-new-yorkers.html?_r=0