Zero Hedge

Edinburgh Tops London As UK's Most-Congested City

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 09:15:00 GMT

Edinburgh Tops London As UK's Most-Congested City

Data from TomTom has revealed the huge amount of time commuters in the UK's most congested cities spend stuck in traffic each year.

As Statista's Martin Armstrong notes in the chart below, the Scottish capital has been named the worst city in the UK for this.

When compared to normal conditions, the average commuter in the city needs 32 percent longer to get to their destination during 'rush hour'. London isn't too much better, with 31 percent longer and the top-three is rounded off by Hull at 28 percent.

You will find more infographics at Statista

The figures are considerably lower than 2019 due to the effects on traffic volumes caused by Covid-19 lockdown measures.

Last year, Edinburgh was at the top of the ranking, but with 41 percent.

Tyler DurdenTue, 01/19/2021 - 04:15

Saxo's Chart Of The Week: ECB Systemic Risk Indicator

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 08:30:00 GMT

Saxo's Chart Of The Week: ECB Systemic Risk Indicator

By Christopher Dembik, head of macro analysis at Saxo Bank

This is certainly the most important chart ahead of Thursday’s ECB meeting.

Initially developed by Hollo, Kremer and Lo Duca in 2012 in the midst of the euro area sovereign debt crisis, the ECB systemic risk indicator is based on fifteen financial stress measures and is used to track emerging market stress that could force the ECB to step in in the market. It is not a leading indicator, but it is very useful to assess the evolution of monetary policy in the euro area and judge the market impact of the latest policy moves.

What is particularly striking is that market stress is almost back to pre-crisis level following the latest ECB measures announced in December (increase in the PEPP envelope and extension by another nine months until at least the end of March 2022). After spiking to an annual peak at 0.34 in mid-March (which is still below levels reached in 2012), it has moved downward and is now almost back to where it was before the outbreak , around 0.07. In our view, this indicator perfectly summarizes how successful was the ECB to contain financial risk in 2020 and is a clear signal that no further monetary action is needed in the short term.

The muted market reaction to rising political risk in the euro area (with political crises in Italy and the Netherlands) constitutes further proof of the ECB’s success. Basically, this week’s meeting will mostly consist in another communication test for the ECB president Lagarde with two main points of interest: the evolution of the euro nominal effective exchange rate, which is getting growing attention by the Governing Council as revealed by the minutes of the December meeting, and the evolution of inflation that could temporarily move upwards due to higher commodity prices, base-effect in Q2 and supply-side bottlenecks that are particularly significant in Europe.

A strong euro (which mostly results from lower US dollar) and inflationary pressures should be regarded as transitionary by the ECB, therefore not resulting in further policy action.

Tyler DurdenTue, 01/19/2021 - 03:30

Mapping Drone Privacy Laws Around The World

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 07:45:00 GMT

Mapping Drone Privacy Laws Around The World

From Olympic opening ceremonies to public safety, drone applications have come a long way.

In fact, as Visual Capitalist's Iman Ghosh details below, their modern applications are set to almost double the total value of the commercial drone market from $22.5 billion to $42.8 billion between 2020-2025, at a 13.8% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).

Naturally, such diverse and complex uses can go quickly awry if not monitored and regulated correctly by governments—yet in some cases, it’s because of governments that drones’ uses border on sinister.

This in-depth map from Surfshark explores the murky guidelines surrounding drone privacy laws around the world, and some case studies of how they’re used in every region.

How Are Drone Privacy Laws Classified?

According to the map researchers, drone and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) regulations typically fall into one of the following buckets:

Outright ban
Effective ban
Visual line of sight required
Pilots need to be able to see the drones at all times, and must usually obtain a license or permit
Experimental visual line of sight
Pilots can let the drone fly outside their field of vision e.g. during a race
Restrictions apply
Drones need to be registered, and/or additional observers are required
Unrestricted
When drones are flown around private property and airports, and under 500 feet (150 meters)
No drone-related legislation

Categories are assigned based on legislation as of October 2020.

Clearly, there is some overlap among these categories. They are highly dependent on judgment calls made by specific legal authorities, and change based on what a drone is being used for.

So How Are Drones Used Worldwide?

The myriad of drone uses are literally and metaphorically up in the air—while they originated in military needs, drone uses now range from hobbies such as aerial photography to supporting disaster relief.

The following regional maps show privacy laws in closer detail, while also highlighting interesting case studies on how drones are used.