- Credibility-enhancing displays (“CREDs”), and why David Beckham queueing up to pay his respect to the Queen is not all that different from Muslims fasting in Ramadan. A fascinating and intriguing read.
- I grew up in the age of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain. Will the Bamboo Curtain now fall in our lifetimes?
- An interesting, and counterfactual, argument against laws mandating historical preservation of buildings and landmarks. Not a problem in Malaysia, though. We just bulldoze through everything…
Today’s Reads V – The Benefits of Monarchies, the Responsiveness of Democracies, and the So-called Price of Success
- “Constitutional monarchies, like established churches, tend to be theoretically conservative but progressive in practice.” – an interesting, and (to me) surprisingly cogent argument for why monarchies (especially constitutional monarchies) are actually helpful in staving off extremist tendencies in polities.
- On the other hand, recent developments such as US gun control reform demonstrate that Democracy (yes, with a capital D) is still the most robust and responsive of all political systems out there. Anyone (be it religious mullahs, or fascist white nationalists) who tells you that “the common people cannot be trusted to govern themselves” are clearly self-interested wannabe-tyrants that ought to be kept away from polite company.
- Those of us who are less successful in life tend to imagine – as a means for palliative self-soothing – that those at the top are paying a price in terms of psychological stress, broken relationships, etc. “Wrecked by success” is a popular trope, but it seems that it might just simply not be true!
Today’s Reads IV – Communist Fashion, M40 Voters, GLC CEOs
- In turbulent times, some resort to…. fashion. #commiestyle
- I guess that in the coming Malaysian general elections, the M40 voter will be an important battlefield.
- Is it “soak the rich” season in Malaysian politics now?
Commentary I – Education and Economic Growth
As someone who grew up and is currently living and working in a developing country, one takes it for granted that investments in education is one of the most important and pound-for-pound valuable ways to spend public money. Indeed, Malaysia consistently spends a significant amount of its public expenditure on education.
So it astounds me to find that President Biden’s recent decision to announce student debt forgiveness has been seen as controversial. It’s one thing to have Republicans oppose the measure – the mid-term elections are around the corner, anyways – but to witness even steely-eyed economists cast doubt on the effectiveness of the policy measure has been surprising.
Amongst Malaysians, it is an article of faith that education is the primary key to upwards social mobility. Perhaps it is a reflection of the long-term rapid growth of the Malaysian economy, that as the economic pie grows rapidly, a larger share of the pie is captured by those with the right skills and competencies. The skills and capabilities gained through education enables workers to undertake higher value-added activities, making them more valuable in the job market, and unlocking greater opportunities for employment and income generation.
A large part of the criticism around student loan forgiveness in the US comes from the perceived moral hazard of potentially encouraging for-profit education institutions to raise the tuition fees even higher, in an environment where tuition fees are already rising much faster than inflation. (Let’s not get into the entire morass of how the US Congress has been captured by corporate lobby interests, resulting in weakened industry oversight and regulatory logjams.)
And as tuition fees continue to rise in runaway fashion, the return on investment for higher education continues to be eroded, so that many young Americans are increasingly dissuaded from taking the extra time, money and effort to undertake higher education.
This doom spiral in American higher education is one of the many reasons why the USA is becoming increasingly less competitive in the global economy. Conversely, multiple research has shown that economic development is, at its most fundamental level, driven by the accumulation of skills and know-how. Every country that has undergone periods of rapid economic development in their history, from postwar Japan to Malaysia in the 1980s and 1990s and China in the 2000s, can point to large investments in education as a key driver for rapid growth.
Despite the crisis in American higher education, it has still been able to maintain its competitiveness, especially in key sectors such as technology and healthcare, but the weakness in American higher education has been masked thus far, I believe, through America’s continued ability to recruit highly-skilled immigrants, especially in industry hubs such as Silicon Valley. (Although one wonders whether the US can still maintain this edge in coming decades, especially if Trumpism becomes a permanent fixture in American politics.)
As Malaysia’s competitiveness continues to be eroded by lower-cost competitors such as Vietnam and Indonesia, it is alarming to note that our rate of public investment into education is on a declining trend. If we are truly to escape the middle-income trap, we will need to reverse this recent decline, and continue to ensure that investments in skills and education continue to be the number one priority for Malaysia.
Poem II – Putera Puteri
T’was once a shining, splendoured thing Such hopes that Life itself daren’t cage Eyes that once gleamed with love ablaze Now dulled by slow, relentless age. And for its passing do I pray That you do find amidst your Rome a Life that shines, with splendour still And may Peace find its harboured home.
Puisi I – Mata Hati
Cerah mata memandang kamu
Cerah hati menumpas ragu
Dua jiwa berkongsi hidup
Takhta kasih berhias sanggup
Redup mata menatap kamu
Redup hati nyaman beradu
Naung jiwa di taman syahdu
Sanggul nyawa dirangkul baldu
Sungguh berkat hidup berdua!
Penuh rahmat hidup bersama!
Kasih mata memandang kamu
Kasih hati nyaman bertemu
Tiada berpisah walau terpisah
Di taman abadi bertemu wajah.
Poem I – Perplexed
I hold myself in state perplexed,
Wherefore these so-called friends have flexed
their blind obeisance to a thief
Who gladly lends this nation grief.
Affrightened, shocked, we then did gasp
at tales of nation’s riches grasp’d,
In revelations of ill gain
and debts of billions now retained
at cost of our own public purse
And echoes of our children’s curse.
And herein lies my ill content
My queried mind in bafflement
What makes these fools of certain grief
to take up cudgels for a thief,
To make false claims of justice bent
When Justice was what God had sent?
Perhaps our own minds were athwart
Too bubbled up to see the art?
Or mayhaps those who know facts well
were flummoxed at the blatant spell
T’was cast by Power’s heavy wand
That Great and Good would dumbly stand
aside as thieves ruled in their prime
with robes of gold to hide their grime,
and riches piled for those with might
to plunder all in broad daylight.
And in minority we stand
The few and frazzled of the land
Accused of being “out of touch”
We’re told that politics is such:
That “Bossku”’s cause is of the right,
That white is black and black is white!
Then destined are we for the fall
a nation that would not stand tall
to judge a thief a criminal,
but rather praise a convict’s gall.
Today’s Reads III
- This ought to be required reading for everyone seriously thinking about how to refit Capitalism for the 21st Century, in a way that promotes social value, and combats the scourge of Inequality. Does it mean that Capitalism can really only be saved by those who scorn its trappings and excesses? Watch this space…
- Sometimes mockery and satire is the only way to speak Truth to Power. Yet another gem from Reddit’s “Am I The Asshole” subreddit 😀
- FT’s Rana Foroohar argues that we are entering a post-neoliberal age, where the balance between Capital and Labour will begin to tilt towards the latter, after 4 decades of the Thatcher/Reagan consensus. In some senses, Malaysia is already on this trajectory, with recent revisions to minimum wage and other labour-oriented legislation. Will it be enough to stave off the pitchforks, though?
Byju Red Flag…
Red flag alert 🚩🚩🚩
Today’s Reads II
- Paul Krugman: “There are always a number of people out there who just can’t accept the idea of fiat money as a technocratic tool of economic management.” #tweet #money #economics
- Why regulations are ‘sticky’ and hard to unwind: “Firms typically resist new regulation attempts in order to avoid the corresponding compliance costs. However, once regulations are implemented, compliance costs are often sunk and cannot be recouped. Therefore, existing firms will often resist efforts to remove the very rules they initially fought against, since these regulations become barriers that stand between them and potential competitors who haven’t yet paid the compliance costs. These dynamics all but ensure that there is no influential constituency to support removing regulations once they are enacted.” #regulations #reform #economics #publicinterest
- David Rubenstein’s 10 rules for investing in #privateequity funds: “Look at the organisation’s ability to keep people. If… people are always leaving an organisation that is an important indicator.”