For Trump, business and politics are a universe of “winners” and “losers,” “weak” and “tough.” According to this market-based worldview, players have only themselves to blame for losing; competition rewards the tough and punishes the…
When costs to the environment and public health are found to outweigh the benefits of growth, will governments embrace smarter infrastructure or ignore environmental and social welfare? So far, economic expediency continues to drive the…
The global implications of domestic political dynamics can and should shape the practical proposals of the city-state movement. As the world’s “strong-man” authoritarians consolidate and strengthen their domestic power, the last hope for international economic,…
The economically vibrant cities of the Four Asian Tigers are a palimpsest of statist developmentalism. While the influence of industrial planning is deeply embedded in their institutions, globalisation, economic liberalisation and democratic reforms have combined…
Applying corporate governance in privatized SOEs should be considered not as a trade-off between – but as a catalyst for – economic growth and political stability. Even though Vietnam’s government appears capable of weathering civil…
China now views the developing world as a market for infrastructure services via development aid. It appears to have adopted a two-pronged approach: direct intervention through investments in hard infrastructure and indirect intervention through the…
Broadband infrastructure must be developed and managed as a regional resource, lest cross-country performance gaps widen. In the collective spirit of the recently implemented ASEAN Economic Community, institutions and infrastructure underpinning economic growth are “everybody’s…
Now is the time for domestic constituents, environmental watchdogs and policy experts to advocate more aggressively for good-faith policy intervention. There is neither economic growth nor political stability without public health. Leaders in the world’s…
The renowned educator Horace Mann once said: “be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” To paraphrase this, scholars should feel professionally unfulfilled until they have made dictators uncomfortable. Academia is…
Devolution is granting increased autonomy to Vietnam’s provincial governments. This coincides with the country’s continuing transition from a centrally planned to market economy. Heterogeneity in economic performance across provinces can be explained in part by…
