Showing 1 - 10 of 11
Sizing up the Kra Canal opportunity
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 02/12/2015
» Thailand and South Korea started implementing accelerated development programmes about the same time as the United States started its urgent quest to land men on the moon. In that quest, the Saturn V rocket was the game changer, for its ability to take a heavy payload, including a moon lander and three astronauts, out of the Earth's gravity to the moon's orbit. It enabled Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to land on the moon's surface and return to Earth safely more than four decades ago.
More effort needed on sufficiency economy
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 07/10/2015
» Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's trip to New York to attend the United Nations summit generated a great deal of attention among Thais, including those in the United States. Some organised a protest near the United Nations headquarters while many more showed up to express their support. A large number who could not go to New York gathered in Los Angeles to air their views.
Don't play roulette with Thai society
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 01/07/2015
» Since the National Council for Peace and Order took the reins of government 13 months ago, Thailand was supposed to be on a path of reform — to make major changes for the better. The National Reform Assembly (NRA), with members chosen from various groups of presumably wise Thais, was set up to put together what needs to be changed.
Judging Thai women on the words of Jimmy Carter
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 02/04/2014
» I am an admirer of Jimmy Carter, due largely to what he has done since leaving the office of US president in January 1981. Instead of leading a comfortable and quiet life or focusing on making a lot of money by using his political connections as many prominent American politicians do and, in the process, tarnishing the glow of democracy and market economy, Mr Carter has been doing things largely for the benefit of others. The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize is testimony to his good deeds.
Corruption risks pulling everyone under
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 06/11/2013
» It is not unusual for three people to share a Nobel Prize for doing research on the same subject, either together or separately. For the prize in economics this year, however, it is quite unusual because while separately conducting research on the movements of asset prices _ stocks, bonds, real estate, etc. _ the three people honoured reached contradictory conclusions.
For Thailand, 'midway' is the better way
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 06/03/2013
» Over the years, among the books that I have strongly recommended are two written by Professor Jared Diamond _ Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or to Succeed. Both have been translated into Thai. For those who cannot spare the time to read these rather hefty books, brief excerpts can be found in the book entitled Kalapiwat.
Cyprus was warned, but it refused to listen
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 03/04/2013
» The severity of the economic problems in Cyprus puzzles me. When my World Bank colleagues and I were working on Cyprus in the 1980s, we were favourably impressed by our Cypriot counterparts, both in the government and in the private sector.
Moderation provides key to happiness
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 02/01/2013
» On June 6 of last year, I wrote in this column that the Great Recession starting in 2008 was bad for most people except those who wrote about it. Dozens of books have been published and I mentioned three that had interested me in particular _ two by Joseph Stiglitz and one by Jeffrey Sachs. These books ask more fundamental questions than most about the causes of the current economic problems.
Our road to sustainability grows ever rockier
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 06/02/2013
» Last week, former US vice president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Al Gore published perhaps another bestseller entitled, The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change. From the pre-publication announcement, it was not clear what the six drivers might be. While waiting for my pre-publication order to be delivered, I saw his brief interview with the BBC.
Start at the local level to avert apocalypse
News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 07/11/2012
» According to one interpretation of the Mayan calendar, there will be a cataclysmic event that causes the end of the world this year, probably on Dec 21.