Taipei Times
Date: Mar 05, 2017
By: Bloomberg

If last year was the year of political shocks, this could be the year when their impact on the global economy materializes. Bloomberg’s Misery Index — which combines countries’ inflation and unemployment outlooks for this year — aims to reveal just that.

For the third year in a row, Venezuela’s economic and political problems make it the most miserable in the ranking. The least miserable country is once again Thailand — in large part due to its unique way of calculating employment — and the rest of the ladder features noteworthy moves by the UK, Poland and Mexico, to name a few.

Economic woes have plagued Venezuela for years. Sluggish crude oil prices, the country’s only significant export, have fueled a crisis that has left grocery store shelves empty, hospitals without basic medication and violent crime rampant as desperation leads to anger.    [FULL  STORY]