The Pandemic Has Erased Entire Categories of Friendship: “Understandably, much of the energy directed toward the problems of pandemic social life has been spent on keeping people tied to their families and closest friends. These other relationships have withered largely unremarked on after the places that hosted them closed…In the coming months, as we begin to add people back into our lives, we’ll now know what it’s like to be without them.”
Asia’s top-performing economy in the Covid pandemic: Vietnam. “The Vietnamese economy grew 2.9% last year from a year ago, according to government estimates released in late December. That’s better than China’s forecast-beating 2.3% growth during the same period…Vietnam’s manufacturing sector was widely credited for the economy’s outperformance last year, with production growing on the back of steady export demand.”
On Clubhouse (live audio conversations): Bloomberg, Marginal Revolution, Suprio Guha Thakurta