In the past week, Vietnam's 13th Communist Party Congress has been taking place. It is also 35 years ago since the country's reform era (officially termed "renovation" or Đổi mới) was launched during the 6th Communist Party Congress. A former editor-in-chief of Communist Review, the party's flagship journal, said that this congress should be viewed … Continue reading 35 years of reform
Memory
A difficult year is coming to an end. I have been fairly safe throughout this year, so far. However, the Buddhist concept of impermanence (vô thường) has never felt as close by as in many moments this year: how precious yet vulnerable a life can be. One may have to leave this world in any … Continue reading Memory
Persistence of revolution
A year ago around this time, I wrote the blog post "China and inequality" as a reflection of mine on recent academic papers within economics on the issue of income and wealth inequality in pre and post-revolution China. This week, another intriguing paper on this topic was released by Alesina et. al. 2020: "Persistence through … Continue reading Persistence of revolution
The lost conservative mind
"The Coronavirus and the Conservative Mind" by Rous Douthat is worth reading, as a brief observation of the varying (and rather lost) "conservative" responses to COVID-19, though it centers on American conservatism. In terms of British conservatism, "Why coronavirus has deepened the crisis of the conservative mind" by Paul Mason also recently echoed this observation. … Continue reading The lost conservative mind
Deaths of despair
The timing for reading the book "Deaths of Despair" (2020) by the economists Angus Deaton and Anne Case couldn't have been more suitable, but mostly for reasons that are presently ravaging the world in many different ways: the COVID-19 pandemic, protests and killings for civil rights, and reawakened debates on structural racism in our societies. … Continue reading Deaths of despair
Primary data collection during a crisis
On 5 June, the US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) announced that the US employment rate was at 13.3%, with 2.5 million new (non-farm) jobs created in net effect in May. Given the astronomical net loss of over 20 million jobs recorded in April, which gave way to the highest spike in the US employment … Continue reading Primary data collection during a crisis
Pandemic responses for developing countries
Spending time in self-isolation in foreign land has naturally triggered me to quietly observe the variety of pandemic responses being executed, either directly through my own observations (in Indonesia) or indirectly through regular conversations with colleagues who come from different parts of the world. These days, my way to show my care for someone that … Continue reading Pandemic responses for developing countries
A week of applied microeconomics
It has been a great week of recognition for the field of applied microeconomics, especially for people working in the intersections of development economics and political economy. Yesterday, it was announced that Melissa Dell, an applied microeconomist, was awarded this year's John Bates Clark Medal for her work on the role of the state, institutions, … Continue reading A week of applied microeconomics
Plumbing, data and inertia
I have been longing to write this blog entry since October last year, after it was announced that the latest Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences went to Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, and Michael Kremer. In a previous blog entry where I shared my immediate reactions to this announcement, I briefly explained how the latest … Continue reading Plumbing, data and inertia
A letter from Pakistan
Pakistan Monument, Islamabad. The past two months of the end of this year have been incredibly busy and kept my mind and heart way too occupied from any writing or even "unwritten" moments of self-reflections. But no amounts of exhaustion or other circumstances shall prevent me from penning down anything about my latest overseas trip … Continue reading A letter from Pakistan
