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Dark times loom for the US economy in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s latest threat on August 1 to levy 10% tariffs on some $300 billion of imports from China. In response, China allowed the yuan to weaken against the dollar and thereby cushion the impact for Chinese exporters. In...
On the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Dani Rodrik posed a controversial question: “Is Export Led Growth Passé?” Writing on September 11, 2008, this famous Harvard professor argued that advanced economies were unlikely to run large current account deficits and import as they did in...
It is easy to sympathize with anxieties over the extradition bill and worsening living standards that prompted the current eruption of protests in Hong Kong. But many people are talking and behaving as if the territory will not be fully integrated with mainland China by 2047. This is fanciful. The...
Wired takes a new look at China’s social credit system that has been nearly unanimously maligned in the West as a totalitarian tool that should frighten any freedom-loving citizen of a Western democracy out of his or her wits. The Chinese claim it is an efficient management tool. Wired clearly...
The world’s governments and peoples must decide how to address the increasing surveillance and data collection — and the resulting loss of privacy — that digital formats provide. In recent years, much of this attention has focused on the rapidly building surveillance and data aggregation in...
The headlines grabbed attention: “China’s economy grows at slowest rate in nearly 30 years,” noted the Financial Times in a typical example. China’s GDP growth in the second quarter had slowed to 6.2%, the smallest gain since 1992, back when the country’s economy was first shifting into...
Japan is set up for a stint in the international spotlight, hosting the G20 summit at the end of June and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It will be a busy few years for Japan, which hosts the G20 summit on June 28-29 followed by the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The international attention sparks questions...
Unlike radical right-wing populism in Western Europe, Australia’s "Hansonism" is largely a one-woman show, almost completely dependent on Pauline Hanson's personality and appeal. She has been called a "mischievous troublemaker, an "embarrassment" to the country, and just a plain racist. The...
The assumption is that what works in wealthy countries can work anywhere. Advancements in the science of building design for earthquake resilience are enabling the development of high-rises and now “supertall” buildings in earthquake-prone areas like Japan. Design processes, scenario and...
The next steps by the likes of China and Russia toward segmentation of the internet, and the way private companies respond, will make or break the World Wide Web. On February 12, the Russian State Duma passed a bill to create a “sovereign” internet, demanding independence from global servers...
Donald Trump is making political waves by deploying warships. But is the United States gambling with its credibility as an international force for order? Since 2002, the most important security conference in the Asia-Pacific region has been held annually at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore....
