How much it costs to decorate big for Christmas in the US

Over-the-top holiday decorating certainly extends beyond the US, yet American homeowners tend to take a different tack, focusing less on cohesive neighbourhood displays and more on wildly individual spectacles that attract hordes of visitors. These displays sometimes take decades to curate, with cumulative investments reaching well into the hundreds of thousands. 

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Newly minted billionaires have collected more of their wealth from the deaths of relatives than through their own work and entrepreneurship.

Of the 137 people who became billionaires in the 12 months to this April, 53 inherited a combined $150.8bn (£119bn) from their family, the report by UBS found. 

This exceeds the combined $140.7bn created by “84 new self-made” billionaires over the same period. The bank said it was the first time in the nine-year history of its annual report on the fortunes of the richest 0.00004% of society that “the next generation of billionaires accumulated more wealth through inheritance than entrepreneurship”. 

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Russians feel the pain of international sanctions

The sanctions now hitting Russia are being described as economic war - they aim to isolate the country and create a deep recession there. Western leaders hope the unprecedented measures will bring about a change in thinking in the Kremlin. Ordinary Russians face seeing their savings wiped out.

 Their lives are already being disrupted. The sanctions against some Russian banks include cutting them off from Visa and Mastercard, and consequently Apple Pay and Google Pay. 

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Economists are trying to figure out what the true cost of a tonne of carbon really is.

As the costs of climate change rise, economists have been revisiting a little-known but potentially profoundly important number that affects the way the real-world cost of climate change is understood. These changes are putting the wheels in motion for stronger policies in the US to meet its target to cut emissions by 50-52%, compared with 2005 levels, by 2030.

 The number in question is known as the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC). It was once dubbed the "most important figure you've never heard of" by its creator Michael Greenstone, the former chief economist under the Obama administration. 

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Finland emerges as the 'new sick man of Europe'

The third-quarter numbers show that Finland - which has taken a tough line against eurozone bail-outs for southern european economies - managed to perform worse than Greece, where the economy shrank by 0.5pc. The European Commission estimates that Finland will manage just 0.7pc growth next year. The country has also been plagued by political paralysis after elections this year brought a new centre-right coalition to power. Helskinki's conservative alliance, led by prime minister Juha Sipilä, came close to collapsing over healthcare reforms earlier this month. Mr Sipilä has vowed to embark on a bold but "painful" austerity blitz to slash government spending and carry out structural reforms to get the country of 5.5 million back on its feet. more