Showing 91 - 100 of 101
Marriage in China breaks the bank
News, Adam Minter, Published on 01/10/2018
» Getting married isn't cheap in China. In Da'anliu, a small farming village outside Beijing, the local "bride price" -- the fee that a groom's family pays to a bride's in advance of their nuptials -- recently breached the US$30,000 mark (972,000 baht). That's extreme for a village where incomes average $2,900 per year. So, this summer, local officials decreed that bride prices and associated wedding expenses shouldn't exceed $2,900. Violators will be treated as human traffickers.
Birth rewards fail the test
News, Editorial, Published on 26/09/2018
» The government's plan to encourage more births by young couples, forlorn from the start, has produced nothing. It's a familiar scene. From Singapore and China, from Europe and now Thailand, planners have dreamed of reversing the ageing of their countries. While it may seem logical to some, it has failed everywhere it has been tried. Failure in Thailand seems certain as well.
Three liberal prophets of doom
News, John Lloyd, Published on 31/07/2018
» Liberal democratic institutions and states are under sustained pressure, from outside and from within. The question now is how well liberal and democratic defences can withstand the onslaught.
Protectionism not good for growth
News, Nilanjan Banik & Pierto Paganini, Published on 09/07/2018
» We are passing through an interesting time. There is a likelihood that trade war between two of the world's biggest economies -- China and USA -- may blow out of proportion. The consequence may be another economic downturn in the offing. During an economic crisis, consumers spend less, and investors do not invest (or postpone their investment decisions). There is a general sense of pessimism about future earning prospects, leading to higher unemployment and lower productivity growth.
Chinese savers won't save China
News, Christopher Balding, Published on 09/07/2018
» Chinese are, in the popular imagination as well as some economic statistics, inveterate savers. According to the International Monetary Fund, the Chinese savings rate stood at an astonishing 46% in 2016, compared to a global average around 25%. Chinese planners have long sought to bring that ratio down in order to promote consumption and ease the economy's overreliance on investment. If only Chinese would shop more, the thinking goes, China wouldn't need to rely on smokestack factories and boondoggle infrastructure projects to drive growth.
Act now on ageing society before it's too late
News, Wichit Chantanusornsiri, Published on 05/07/2018
» In the next three years, people aged over 60 in Thailand will account for 13.8 million, or 20% of the population. This means in a group of five, there will be one elderly person. In demographic science, a country where 20% of its people are aged 60 years old or higher is categorised as an ageing society.
Tiny ad may set Indians free at last
News, Mihir Sharma, Published on 16/06/2018
» It was the most carefully examined square of newsprint in recent Indian history. Last week, a small job ad appeared on the inside pages of some newspapers looking for candidates for the post of "joint secretary" in the Indian government. Within a few hours, the ad had gone viral: Opposition politicians had weighed in, Twitter was agog and hundreds of thousands of 40ish Indians wondered if they had one last opportunity to make their parents proud.
Art of the graft
News, Alan Dawson, Published on 03/06/2018
» Coup leader Gen (Ret) Prayut Chan-o-cha first mentioned his programme concerning corruption in late May, 2014, not long after seizing power. It was so long ago that there wasn't even a National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO). It was still called the National Peace and Order Maintaining Council (NPOMC).
Is it the end of the road for the Ortegas in Nicaragua?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/06/2018
» From the Ceausescus (overthrown and shot in 1989) to the Mugabes (removed in a non-violent military coup in 2017), husband-and-wife teams running authoritarian regimes seem to have a particularly high casualty rate. And now it may be the turn of the Nicaraguan team: President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice-President Rosario Murillo.
Does China trump US on military?
News, Tobin Harshaw & Philip Gray, Published on 28/05/2018
» When is US$227 billion greater than $606 billion? When comparing Chinese defence spending to that of the US -- and if army chief-of-staff Mark Milley is the one doing the maths.