All rise and applaud the magnificent Kim Yu-Na. Kim who ? You could be forgiven for asking that if you aren’t into winter sports. But if you have been following the Vancouver Winter Olympics, you cannot , but be mesmerized by the story of the wonderful Kim.
Kim Yu-Na is arguably the most famous athlete in South Korea. All of 19 years old, she’s dubbed “Queen Yu-Na” and is a superstar in her country....
Sunday, 28 February 2010
Friday, 26 February 2010
The US does not rule the world !
If you have followed the Toyota story, the latest twist of Toyota’s Chairman, Akio Toyoda being called to “depose” before the United States Congressional Committee, shows that the US politicians just don’t get it. “Surely if Congress can be here, so can you," Congressman Darrell Issa of California said in an electronic letter to Toyoda. Separately, he said he would "fully support" subpoenaing Toyoda,...
Monday, 22 February 2010
When is too much, too much ?
How do you price services which are very exclusive and for which there is no possibility of a real market ? Is there some such thing as a “fair price” or is that concept an oxymoron ? Does public opinion on what constitutes “excessive” have any role to play ? Should pricing have any relation to cost at all ? Not easy questions to answer. Welcome to the world of investment banking.
The case that triggers...
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Hu nian kuai le
Hu nian kuai le; or as they say in Guangdong, Kung hei fat choi.
It’s the end of the spring festival holiday in China. After a week of festivities, millions of people are wending their way back to work. Come Monday, and life will be back to the routine. The overwhelming feeling is akin to a schoolgirl having to go back to school after the summer vacation.
It is rather a strange feeling being in...
Friday, 19 February 2010
Hail the entrepreneur
One of the largest job creators in the world is, well, you. You don’t need to necessarily work for somebody else – you can work for yourself. Millions do. Entrepreneurship is truly a magic bullet to overcome unemployment.
Entrepreneurship is a long and complicated word. It hints at some grandiose big startup ; it doesn’t need to be. The largest number of entrepreneurs run an organization of 1 – themselves....
Wednesday, 17 February 2010
Build baby, build
Build and they’ll come. Economists hate this phrase. They won’t come; they say. Maybe not to the land of the politician who said "Drill baby, drill" and to whom the title of this post owes apologies to. But in most parts of the world, they will indeed come.
Infrastructure development is surely the policy area where most countries have performed poorly in. In developing countries it is because of...
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Brightly fades the Don
That’s the title of the book written by Jack Fingleton, for me the greatest cricket writer who ever lived. Its about the famous post war series, which was Don Bradman’s last series ever, when he led the 1948 Aussies, arguably the greatest test team of all.
So a visit to the home of Don Bradman, is...
Friday, 12 February 2010
Invest in Vocational Training
Education is key to development – it would be hard to dispute this simplistic truism. But what education ? Primary ? Secondary ? Institutions of high learning ? What ?
This post argues for vocational training being the single biggest priority. There is no doubt that universal primary education has to be a basic human right, and a basic human responsibility. But I would place vocational training a...
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Governments - Incentivise employment
Every government in the world says one of its biggest priorities is to create jobs. And yet, very often, they do precisely the opposite. Governments, and policy makers, do not normally get it as to how to create jobs. A shining exception is China – no government in the world comes even remotely close to China when it comes to job creation.
How should governments stimulate job creation. By helping...
Sunday, 7 February 2010
From rookie to sophomore
Exactly a year ago a “young” man, I know, made his first blog post – not knowing where it will lead him to, but start, he did. He was, and is, an oddity – in a media which is inhabited by young people, for he is, let us say, skewing the age profile. Today he sheds the rookie tag and becomes a sophomore.
But why blog ? Some do it because its the “in” thing to do. Some do because they have an opinion...
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Labour flexibility is fundamental to job creation
In China, when you are employed, you get a fixed term contract. Usually 2 years or 3 years. Even if you are a manager. Even if you are a very senior manager. There is no “endless” employment agreement. And this is ostensibly a communist state. It is not a complete coincidence that in the last 20 years, China has created jobs in the manufacturing sector for some 200 million people.This blogger might...
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Labour pricing - don't score an own goal
One of the most amazing consequences of the recession over the last two years is that, for the first time, employees are willing to accept pay cuts, or even zero pay for periods of time, in order to retain their jobs. Labour has realised (the unpleasant truth) that just like any other factor of production, there is an equilibrium price. Go above it and business will be killed. Its much better to have...
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Manufacturing is key
Manufacturing sector is the key to creating jobs. Not agriculture. Not services.Agriculture employs a lot of people , especially in developing countries, but cannot create more jobs. Land is finite. Agricultural development will be primarily in improving productivity and output ; not in expansion of jobs. In this sector, policy must focus on efficiency; not on job creation.The services sector is sexy,...
Monday, 1 February 2010
The challenge of job creation
Every nation is battling with this problem – how to create jobs for its people. Growth is all fine, but without jobs, there cannot be real progress. The problem with much of capitalism and economic development in the last decade has been that job creation has lagged behind growth. By definition, this leads to inequality, resentment and ultimately a backlash. The recession last year exacerbated the...
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