"Responding to Chinese challenge with democratic socialism" by Thomas Piketty, 13 July 2021. Isn't this a momentum to reach a truly global pareto efficient outcome (everyone benefits without anyone left worse off) if the Chinese themselves respond to the challenge it poses to the rest of the world by adopting more egalitarian approaches to its …
Category: Politics
Reflections on Vietnam’s 35 years of reform
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 …
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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. …
China and inequality
In many developing countries with a deeply rooted legacy of socialism and egalitarianism, debates about choosing between the policy preferences of economic growth, equality and social justice remain as contentious as ever. Within economics, unanimity is really never meant to be achieved when studying the following questions: What is the optimal tax rate? What is …
Bo Songvisava and the future of Thailand
A colleague of mine recently introduced me to “Chef’s Table”, a Netflix series documenting different world cuisines through stories of individual chefs and their chosen cuisine of specialization. The first episode that I watched featured Duangporn “Bo” Songvisava, a female Thai co-chef and owner of Bo.Lan, a Bangkok restaurant. This was not a random choice. …
