• OPINION

  Debt aside, economy looks a lot like Greece's

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 01/05/2013

  » When the current eurozone crisis reached Greece, many Thais asked whether what was happening over there could happen here.

• OPINION

  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.

• OPINION

  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.

• OPINION

  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.

• OPINION

  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.

• OPINION

  Pawning rice is worse than pawning Thailand

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 05/12/2012

  » Since the launching of the rice-pawning scheme a few months ago ("pawning" is not only a correct translation of the Thai word jam nam but also reflects the sense of the scheme better than the "pledging" that many writers have used), two areas have been analysed most thoroughly: its potential impact on the budget and national debt, resulting from the large losses that will occur, and the corruption that is due to happen at various steps of the scheme. Some analysts go so far as to say that losses from this scheme will bankrupt the country and pawning rice is tantamount to pawning the country.

• OPINION

  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.

• OPINION

  Agricultural policy fails to address land grab

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 03/10/2012

  » Afew years back, foreign investors scouting for large swaths of land to plant rice and eucalyptus trees backed off after encountering strong local opposition. Anecdotal reports indicate that they have not given up altogether but may be working through Thai fronts to achieve the same end. With warm weather year round, fertile soil, and ample supplies of water, Thailand remains a target for foreigners interested not only in securing industrial raw materials and food supplies but also in obtaining a higher rate of return on their investment.

• OPINION

  Lies come in many colours

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 04/09/2012

  » Since a group of political activists has used yellow to identify its movement against the administration of a former prime minister and his associates over the past half decade or so, it has become fashionable for a political movement in this country to identify itself by a colour.

• OPINION

  Sufficiency economy, our solution

  News, Sawai Boonma, Published on 01/08/2012

  » Over the past two years, I have occasionally referred to the notion of sufficiency economy - a term translated from Thai after His Majesty the King first uttered it publicly on Dec 4, 1997.

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