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0:25

The Economist. Hello

0:33

and welcome to the Intelligence from The

0:35

Economist. I'm Jason Palmer. And I'm

0:37

or it can be. Every weekday

0:39

we provide a fresh perspective on

0:41

events shaping. Go Out! There

0:47

is a London neighborhood called Canary Wharf

0:49

filled with glass and steel buildings, which

0:51

in turn used to be filled with

0:53

white collar workers. How it's changing in

0:56

a work from home post Pandemic world

0:58

could be a model for many other

1:00

cities. And

1:02

when. We were knocked up at

1:05

home during the pandemic. Cinemas took

1:07

a big hit and not all

1:09

of them survived. For those who

1:11

have begun heading back to the

1:13

movies, they're opting for really big,

1:15

big screens, reclining seats, and a

1:17

much fancier experience. But

1:24

fast. So

1:29

either of into a will scold

1:31

shot at static. Insane

1:34

America has about academic standards that

1:36

it's public schools since way before

1:38

mean girls came out in two

1:41

thousand and four. Kind of psychic?

1:43

Really like I have E S

1:45

P N or something. The

1:50

Department of Education tried to of that's

1:52

a decline in school achievement back in

1:54

Nineteen Eighty Three. That's

1:58

around the same time that another put. The

2:00

film it cinemas this one

2:02

about a group of misfits

2:05

in detention or base of

2:07

beauty of just as level

2:10

and a restless. Many

2:15

states these graduation payments and

2:17

the castle cities or comprehensive

2:20

to. Require

2:23

and Graduate supposed Standardize English and

2:25

Math. That

2:28

recent trends the sense that these

2:30

standards may have slipped. Once again,

2:32

more and more students are finishing

2:34

high school. In the past fifteen

2:37

years, graduation rates at American Has

2:39

Goals has increased from seventy four

2:41

percent. To eighty seven

2:43

percent on average. Doug

2:47

Thousand is a day's a

2:49

journalist for The Economist. Students

2:51

are taking more courses and

2:53

earning higher grades. But an

2:55

analysis. Conducted by the

2:57

economists finds that these positive

2:59

figures maybe obscuring other more

3:01

worrying trends. What send

3:03

talking about it is isn't higher

3:05

that. Reason rate a positive indicated.

3:08

Normally as, but not when

3:11

other measures of academic achievement

3:13

are moving in the opposite

3:15

direction. So. For

3:17

example, scores on college admissions exams says as

3:19

they as a T or the A city.

3:22

Are at historic Lows. Results:

3:25

From the latest pizza which is

3:27

an international test run by the

3:29

only city. So. That

3:31

math and reading literacy

3:33

are flat or down.

3:36

Scores. On the nape sometimes called

3:38

the Nations Report Card or also.

3:40

Basically. Flat. And

3:43

this disconnect is worrying because it

3:45

suggests that schools may be lowering

3:47

their academic standards in order to

3:49

boost graduation rates. so there's a

3:51

higher graduation rate that standards have

3:53

been getting know or. Are

3:55

they getting last? So. To

3:58

answer this, the Economist assembled. Data

4:00

on graduation rates and standardized test

4:02

scores at three thousand and high

4:05

schools across six states for school

4:07

years From two thousand Seven, Two,

4:09

Two thousand, Twenty two. And

4:12

we found that for your graduation rates

4:14

in our sample increase during this period.

4:17

Even. as test scores fell, And

4:19

the gains and graduation rates were greatest.

4:22

In. High schools with the lowest test scores.

4:24

So. Does for example, in

4:26

two thousand seven schools with test scores

4:28

in the bottom tenth of our sample.

4:31

Graduated. Half of their students. But then,

4:33

in two thousand, Twenty two. They. Graduated

4:35

two thirds. says. Low

4:37

performing schools have passed more of

4:40

their students. The relationship between test

4:42

scores and graduation rates has weekend.

4:45

And how do you measure just

4:47

how bad this is, right? So

4:50

to quantify this, we ran an

4:52

analysis of graduation rates at the

4:54

school level. That. Controlled for

4:56

a lot of the important variables:

4:58

test scores, drop out rates, and

5:00

the actual year that were observing.

5:03

And we found that graduation rates

5:05

went up even after controlling for

5:08

changes and test scores and drop

5:10

rates. So. That means that high

5:12

schools are graduating more students than they would

5:14

have in the past. Although. Our

5:17

results differs from state to state.

5:19

We found that on average American

5:21

public high schools in our sample

5:23

or inflating graduation rates by about

5:25

four percentage points compared with fifteen

5:27

years ago. Was this

5:29

happened? The. Trend towards weakening

5:32

standards can be blamed in part

5:34

on No Child Left Behind. So

5:36

this was the Education Reform law

5:38

that was passed in two thousand

5:40

and two. This law required states

5:43

to track the shared students that

5:45

graduated on time and set annual

5:47

targets for improvement. So. This

5:49

was a good idea and principle.

5:51

The problem was that in practice

5:53

school sort of set these targets

5:56

and then did whatever they could

5:58

to achieve those targets even. Marine

6:01

academic standards. Another issue is

6:03

concerns about racial equity. When

6:06

New Jersey recently debated said

6:08

he knew benchmarks for a

6:11

standardized tests. Some. Folks

6:13

on the board argued that higher

6:15

standards would be unfair to black

6:17

and Latino students. You. Can

6:19

also see this in or again.

6:21

It's latest decision to drop it's

6:24

graduation exams. What's happened in November?

6:26

This. Decision was based in part on

6:28

a report by the Education Department which

6:31

found that the test. Produced.

6:33

In. Equitable outcomes for historically

6:36

marginalized groups. So. Obviously.

6:39

These. Concerns about. Equity

6:41

are on the minds of policymakers.

6:44

And are matters policymakers Little

6:46

Sussex. This creep in grants me some mates.

6:48

And. Know not so much. You can just look

6:50

at the recent newsy to see this isn't a

6:53

case in May of last year. New.

6:55

Jersey's Board of Education voted to

6:57

lower the past in scores on

6:59

it's high school graduates and test.

7:02

In November or again decided

7:04

to scrap it's graduation exams.

7:07

and what's most worrying is

7:09

that these policies to lower

7:11

the bar. Are.

7:14

Intended to narrow. Achievement

7:16

gaps, but they may actually have the

7:18

opposite effect. What's he mean by

7:20

that? So. A really interesting

7:23

study from last year. Sound.

7:25

That's after schools in North

7:27

Carolina. Introduced. A

7:30

new grading policy a few years

7:32

ago that made it easier to

7:34

earn a's and hearted or and

7:36

ass students with low test scores

7:39

started to show up less often

7:41

and put in less effort and

7:43

while the policy lead to a

7:45

higher graduation rates and also. Contributed.

7:48

To wider gaps in Gp A's

7:50

and test scores between. The.

7:53

Highest and the lowest scoring students

7:55

of this all suggests that

7:57

some of these policies aimed at.

8:00

Lowering the bar may actually harm

8:02

the very students they're meant to

8:04

help. Don't. Think she's

8:06

so much for joining us. Thanks sorry.

8:19

Businesses have long had to cope with

8:21

the impact of business cycle. Now.

8:24

They must address much as cycles

8:26

a sad clown. Swarms

8:28

than up seemingly. Nowhere irrespective

8:30

of the ups and downs of

8:32

the overall economy, read what global

8:35

executives are doing. Some mitigate

8:37

the risk and sees

8:39

their opportunities in the

8:41

Fifth Annual Alixpartners Disruption

8:44

indexed at Disruption that

8:46

alixpartners.com. In

8:56

Nineteen Eighty Eight, Britain's and Prime

8:59

Minister Margaret Thatcher helped to sink

9:01

the first pile in the redevelopment

9:03

of London's docklands. With

9:05

some last minute adjustments to her

9:08

head guess the Prime Minister prepared

9:10

to launch the construction of Canary

9:12

Wharf. Still the controls of a

9:14

twenty five pounds driver and the

9:16

seventy one acre unfortunate seed machines

9:18

don't have provisions handbags. a derelict

9:20

wasteland was to be transformed into

9:22

the city's new financial hub. Then,

9:24

the next five years the area

9:26

will become a vast development housing

9:28

two major foreign banks. One part

9:30

of it Canary Wharf was filled

9:32

with bankers and lawyers. It's glass

9:34

towers, a monument. To Mrs. Thatcher's

9:37

Free Market Revolution. But

9:39

these days Londoners on commuting five

9:42

days a week. and like similar

9:44

districts around the world, Canary Wharf

9:46

is having to adapt more. Of

9:48

us are working from home and like many

9:51

business districts, this means that offices in

9:53

Canary Wharf and London around here than they

9:55

used to be. And

9:57

you can do we re is a Britain correspondent.

10:00

The Economist. Have a problem

10:02

for a commercial property landlords and across

10:04

London, just under a tenth of office

10:06

space is empty. So

10:08

is that to say that places like Canary Wharf

10:10

that our office space first and foremost are falling

10:12

on hard times? Not necessarily canary worse,

10:14

Investors are, so far, pretty unruffled. Canary

10:17

Wharf has fallen on hard times before

10:19

in the nineteen nineties, it crashed into

10:21

bankruptcy under it's previous owners, and in

10:23

two thousand and eight, the fall of

10:26

the American Investment Bank, Lehman Brothers cleared

10:28

more than seventy six thousand square meters

10:30

of office space overnight. In

10:32

fact, the investors Brookfield and Be Qatar

10:35

Investment Authority injected around four hundred million

10:37

pounds into The District last year. So

10:39

they're sticking with their investment and their

10:42

focus on reinventing it. I

10:44

went down there last month or check it out.

10:48

I met up with seen a mere

10:50

that who is the Director of Communications

10:53

Act. Mary was very happy about how.

10:56

Showing the opposite. Of

10:58

what you see if I suppose he's our. Local.

11:10

Officials and eighty Two thousand plays a

11:13

big part in Canary Wharf. Strengthen a

11:15

said nearly all new building on the

11:17

estate is earmarked for rental homes. The

11:20

plans mirror Brookfield playbook elsewhere in Manhattan,

11:22

western Hudson Yards in New York.

11:24

They own a string of offices, hotels,

11:26

salts, and housing which sit side by

11:29

side. For today, around three thousand five

11:31

hundred people live in Canary Wharf

11:33

and the first residents Mayfair. In

11:35

January, Twenty Twenty, and as well

11:37

as how saying, Canary Wharf has

11:39

added fun activities like go karting,

11:41

outdoor sport screenings on concerts in

11:43

the summer, and even a beach

11:46

volleyball tournament. At. Lunchtime you get

11:48

lots of people playing paddle that's a crossover

11:50

between tennis and squash and I got to

11:52

see them action. The

12:00

waters surrounding the former dogs is

12:03

now used for swimming but rentals

12:05

and five kilometers of boardwalks. So

12:07

along the river you get lots

12:09

of dog walkers, parents pushing primes

12:11

and joggers, and the even turned

12:13

a vacant car park into a

12:15

huge indoor playground with a roller

12:17

rink, pulpits and bumper cars. Not.

12:20

Been do I have walked along those boardwalk

12:22

so I have gone to some of those

12:24

outdoor screenings. I lives just across the river

12:26

from Canary Wharf by after say it's still

12:28

an area as feals. Office

12:31

buildings and as you say, plenty of

12:33

those are still and. Yes

12:36

well as as as are still at

12:38

the course, Canary Wharf at their importance

12:40

has shrunk. Offices used to be around

12:42

ninety five percent of the portfolios value

12:45

twenty years ago, but now they're closer

12:47

to seventy four percent, and Canary Wharf

12:49

also has plans for a license. as

12:51

current as the you'll get more med

12:53

tech and biotech professionals working in the

12:56

District, and the result of all of

12:58

this is hopefully a mix of assets.

13:00

That said, be more resilient to fluctuations

13:02

in demand for any single class of

13:05

property. And offices haven't completely

13:07

been forgotten. City Group is spending over

13:09

one hundred million pounds to refurbish it's

13:11

building and Barclays has revamped it's office

13:13

tower. It's added brand new trading floors

13:15

with the cafe selling more details and

13:18

couple there. So. We

13:20

should see what's going on in Canary

13:22

Wharf as a sort of urban planning

13:24

success. That certainly paying off.

13:27

Around six point three million people visited

13:29

the estate in January, lots of eight

13:31

percent year on year. Midweek:

13:33

Trips have returned to pre pandemic levels

13:35

and even visits or up by half

13:37

said nearly double the number of bars,

13:40

cafes and restaurants on the estate as

13:42

well and the Waitress supermarket in Canary

13:44

Wharf. It's the best performing branch in

13:46

Britain, so Canary Were strategy is working.

13:49

And. Presumably when this kind of trend is going

13:51

on and lots of cities around the world. Maybe

13:53

there's a model here to be learned from to

13:55

be copied. I think so

13:57

because many cities are still recovering from

14:00

the effect. The Block Downs and Canary

14:02

Wharf demonstrates the jarring disconnect that's emerged

14:04

between urban centers that are simply muddling

14:06

through and those that are thriving. Places.

14:09

Like Singapore in Tokyo, haven't fully recovered

14:11

to their pre pandemic levels of tourism,

14:13

for example, or it's London has bounced

14:15

back and New York City is almost

14:17

there. I think the biggest lesson from

14:19

Canary Wharf is the importance of diversifying

14:21

the property mix, and that mirrors what's

14:23

happening in cities around the world. Subsidies.

14:26

Are adding more green space and cycle

14:28

lanes. Some are burning cars completely from

14:31

parts of the city, Paris's cleaning up

14:33

the river send for the Olympics, and

14:35

New York and Singapore are looking at

14:37

converting offices to apartments. So.

14:39

There are lots of important lessons you can

14:42

take away from Canary Wharf Transformation. Thanks

14:45

very much time into. Thanks for having

14:47

me. Like.

15:02

A. Case of. Com

15:05

Wainwright is the eponymous media

15:07

editor. They had a

15:09

terrible time not surprisingly during the pandemic

15:11

and during lockdowns, but even now they're

15:13

nowhere near where they were before the

15:15

pandemic. Last year the

15:17

global box office was about closer. Below is

15:19

free Pandemic Sega and it seems that people

15:21

have just got out of the habits is

15:23

going to the movies. I

15:26

can see thousand the average American when

15:28

to be more than five times a

15:30

year. Last year the average American probably

15:32

when few than three times people these

15:34

days are spending more time at home,

15:36

more time with a streaming services and.

15:38

This not surprisingly, has been terrible

15:41

from cinema chains. We've seen chains

15:43

like any World, which is the

15:45

world's largest ministration. So ethical times,

15:47

they're the media industry. Was

15:55

the big exception actually is the biggest

15:57

screens of all we see this. The

16:00

when I max which makes

16:02

my screen coaching meeting. Last

16:11

year he took one point one billion dollars

16:14

at the box office which was the second

16:16

highest total in it's history and it had

16:18

actually it's biggest ever. Who in the domestic

16:20

box office which is America and Canada? They

16:24

were announced their annual results recently, and they

16:26

said that their annual revenues up by a

16:28

quarter. And this

16:30

year they expect to install of two hundred

16:32

and fifty nice greens as a time of

16:35

course when my sons and among among likely

16:37

to. Be clear. I

16:46

think this is part of a big trend really. What

16:50

seems to be happening is to have no longer

16:52

treating a trip to the theaters as something that

16:55

you do as frequently as before, but as it

16:57

becomes less frequent is turning into more of a

16:59

kind of three. People are

17:01

going myself and and when they do go

17:03

they really want to make a big night

17:06

of it so they go to the big

17:08

screen they can find that go to somewhere

17:10

that makes it more of a sort of

17:13

events and we're seeing friends were in cinemas

17:15

chains that introducing things like said reclining seats

17:17

and wait to serve as seek an odor

17:19

cocktails be brought c o sea making it

17:22

more of a special nights out. And

17:25

we see this reflect to the bit in

17:27

prices. So the average price paid for a

17:29

ticket last year to see a film in

17:31

the States was ten dollars estate. And that's

17:34

up from about nine dollars just before the

17:36

pandemic. On

17:39

to my long distance or moves

17:41

on Oslo just. Have

17:45

we seen other chains as well benefiting

17:47

from this? is not just Imax in

17:49

South Korea for example as a chain

17:51

called C T V and they have

17:53

rebranded that multiplex as Culture Places Foods

17:55

and no wonder just places where you

17:57

guys have such a film. You can

17:59

also. And like music events. Gaming,

18:04

maggie, dining, drinking, the whole range of

18:06

stuff and they've upgraded their auditoriums in

18:08

a big way to say they now

18:10

have wind and rain and smell the

18:12

experience and not a not so. this

18:15

is something I'd necessarily pay more for.

18:17

Seen some people days. Is

18:20

another example. Attain in the Us he

18:22

could votes. Lose. Your mood and

18:24

T v it will have seen Izzi in

18:26

one of that branches they said wacky be

18:28

wrapped in goes me wish they charge hundred

18:30

and nineteen dollars for has I get. It's

18:32

not just your typical weekly trip to the

18:34

movies anymore This is a kind of with

18:37

two or three times a year blow out

18:39

where you catch the film but you also

18:41

have drinks. He had dinner and as more

18:43

of a special night and the other did.

18:49

The movie business a rule is still finding

18:51

things very difficult and and Desir is gonna

18:54

be tough. The.

18:56

Last year box office takings was still lower

18:58

than they were before the pandemic can. Actually

19:00

most analysts think this is taking the gonna

19:02

be lower. Even then they were. Big

19:06

reason for that is the strikes that we

19:08

saw last year in Hollywood which delayed some

19:10

think releases. The was sequels to Mission Impossible

19:12

and the Avatar which I think recently would

19:15

you come out this year from Reno can

19:17

come out the here anymore say setting the

19:19

Sierra a gonna be lower and I think

19:21

the cinemas that the best the gonna be

19:23

those that treat a trip to the movies

19:25

like the kind of rare luxury. This is

19:28

fast becoming. That's

19:42

all for this episode of The Intelligence.

19:44

We've made a few changes to our

19:46

podcasts legally and. as

19:55

poss to share your. X.

20:15

Businesses have long had to cope

20:17

with the impact of business cycles.

20:19

Now they must address not just

20:21

cycles, but some. Clone storms

20:23

than of. Nowhere

20:26

irrespective of the ups and downs

20:28

of the overall economy, read what

20:30

global executives are doing: Some. The

20:33

Risk and sees their

20:36

opportunities in the fifth

20:38

Annual Alixpartners Disruption In

20:40

that at Disruption.alixpartners.com.