The Korea Herald

[Jeffrey Frankel] Will emerging markets fall in 2012?

BERN ― Emerging markets have performed amazingly well over the last seven years. In many cases, they have far outperformed the advanced industrialized countries in terms of economic growth, debt-to-GDP ratios, countercyclical fiscal policy, and assessments by ratings agencies and financial markets.As 2012 begins, however, investors are wondering if emerging markets may be due for a correction, triggered by a new wave of “risk off” behavior. Will China experience a hard landing? Will a decline in

Jan. 29, 2012

[Jeffrey Frankel] Will emerging markets fall in 2012?

Steve Jobs on benefits of competition in education

There seem to be as many political solutions to education problems in South Korea as there are people thinking about them. Thus, there is endless controversy about which policies should be implemented. A major reason for the controversy is the biggest difference between political and market-based polices: In politics, a situation that captures public attention is seen a problem or crisis; in the market, such situations are seen as opportunities.Some of the world’s greatest, boldest and most aggr

Jan. 29, 2012

Why Singapore has the cleanest government that its citizens can buy

Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, isn’t often taken publicly to task. But when you make S$3.1 million ($2.4 million) annually to run a country, people tend to expect results. When they don’t get them, the aggrieved masses turn to that lowest-of-common-denominator gripes: Hey, how much are we paying this guy? Lots compared with, say, Barack Obama, who as U.S. president gets $400,000 a year. Lee’s compensation will fall 36 percent, and that of Singapore’s president will drop 51 percent,

Jan. 29, 2012

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Egypt’s unfinished revolution will eventually succeed

NEWPORT BEACH ― A year ago, Egyptians of all ages and religions took to the streets and, in just 18 days of relatively peaceful protests, removed a regime that had ruled over them with an iron fist for 30 years. Empowered by an impressive yet leaderless movement ― largely of young people ― the country’s citizens overcame decades of fear to reclaim a voice in their future.While much has been achieved since those euphoric times, Egypt’s revolution today is, unfortunately, incomplete and imperfect

Jan. 29, 2012

[Mohamed A. El-Erian] Egypt’s unfinished revolution will eventually succeed

Challenges for Indonesia on way to ‘AAA’ rating

It’s a rare economic story that involves Facebook Inc., God and credit ratings. Leave it to Indonesia to serve up a saga that speaks volumes about the obstacles facing Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Although Indonesia doesn’t often make global headlines, one event last week should have received more ink: Moody’s Investors Service returned the country to investment grade for the first time since the Asian financial crisis. It was an overdue recognition of how far Indonesia has progressed in th

Jan. 27, 2012

[David Ignatius] Campaign for ‘American renewal’

WASHINGTON ― The foreign-policy theme that should dominate this year’s presidential campaign is “American renewal.” Each candidate claims to have a strategy for halting the nation’s decline, but their versions often amount to “more of the same” ― which ain’t gonna work. For a bracing discussion of what a revival of U.S. power would actually require over the next few decades, I recommend a new book called “Strategic Vision,” by Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former national security adviser to Presiden

Jan. 27, 2012

[David Ignatius] Campaign for ‘American renewal’

‘Invented threat’

As disturbing as the controversy over why Salman Rushdie was misled into believing that his life, and the literature festival, would be endangered if he turned up at Jaipur is the manner in which the home ministry opted out of taking the lead role in a security-related situation. It may be technically correct that law and order is a state subject, but when the larger issue of the nation’s global prestige is at stake, and when more than one state government is involved (Maharashtra and Rajasthan

Jan. 27, 2012

China, Russia, U.S. face off beneath the waves

An underwater tug-of-war is intensifying among countries such as China, Russia and the United States in the seas around Japan.Vietnamese Defence Minister Phung Quang Thanh, who comes from Vietnam’s army, requested an inspection of a Maritime Self-Defence Force submarine when he visited Japan in October.He visited the Makishio, a main submarine of the MSDF Submarine Flotilla 1, in the city of Kure, Hiroshima Prefecture. Made in Japan, the state-of-the-art submarine boasts a displacement capacity

Jan. 27, 2012

Major powers battle for influence in Asia

“Where there is sugar, there are ants,” is perhaps the appropriate phrase to visualize the ongoing and increasing struggle among the major powers over influence in Asia ― the continent with the world’s fastest growth and abundant natural resources. Along with these colliding interests, comes the race to exercise control and to tap the continent’s resources and huge potential.The struggle among nations, particularly superpowers like the United States and the rapidly emerging power China, to gain

Jan. 27, 2012

[Park Sang-seek] Clash of Western civilization and Korean culture

Koreans celebrate the two New Years: the solar New Year and the lunar New Year. The first is based on Western civilization and the second on Chinese civilization. Their contradictory behavior is symbolic of the clash of cultures in Korea.In the present, Western civilization and Korean culture are mixed like a salad bowl, and Koreans experience a culture clash. In order to deal with this, Koreans need to understand the characteristics of Korean culture and their impact on the political, economic

Jan. 27, 2012

[Park Sang-seek] Clash of Western civilization and Korean culture

[Robert Shiller] Does austerity promote growth?

NEW HAVEN ― In his classic Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits (1724), Bernard Mandeville, the Dutch-born British philosopher and satirist, described ― in verse ― a prosperous society (of bees) that suddenly chose to make a virtue of austerity, dropping all excess expenditure and extravagant consumption. What then happened?The Price of Land and Houses falls;Mirac’lous Palaces, whose Walls,Like those of Thebes, were rais’d by PlayAre to be let; ... .The building Trade is quite

Jan. 26, 2012

[Robert Shiller] Does austerity promote growth?

How Democrats got their pockets picked

It’s hard to read Thomas Frank’s new book, “Pity the Billionaire,” without being astonished at what utter nincompoops Democrats are.This surely was not Frank’s primary intent. The book is subtitled, “The Hard-Times Swindle and the Unlikely Comeback of the Right,” so it’s pretty clear where Frank coming from. But the obvious subtext is how, in a two-party system, Democrats allowed Republicans to pull off the greatest cross-dressing scam since RuPaul became America’s Drag Queen.Frank is a journali

Jan. 26, 2012

Shell game on the size of government

President Obama recently unveiled a plan to reorganize and streamline government agencies. “No business,” the president said, “... would allow this kind of duplication or unnecessary complexity in their operations. ... Why is it OK for our government?” Sound familiar?It should. Obama’s proposal ― a political ploy aimed at the fickle middle of American politics ― is the most recent in a long line of presidential “efficiency” measures. Every president since Richard Nixon has offered something simi

Jan. 26, 2012

The verdict is already in on climate change

Recently I had jury duty, and during jury selection something remarkable occurred. Early in the proceedings, the judge posed a hypothetical question to the 60 or so potential jurors in the room: “If I were to send you out now and ask you to render a verdict, what would it be? How many of you would vote not guilty?” A few raised their hands. “How many would vote guilty?” A few more raised their hands. “And how many would say you didn’t know enough to decide?” Every remaining hand ― about 50 peopl

Jan. 26, 2012

[Richard H. Thaler] Corporate citizens do well by doing good to others

Although the phrase is now somewhat out of fashion, the issue of corporate responsibility is at the heart of many of the debates on economic policies around the world. Should corporations simply maximize profits and let the invisible hand do its wonders, or do they have some obligation to be good corporate citizens as well? As with many politicized debates, this one has been captured by two extreme positions, neither of which are, to my mind, particularly sensible. At one extreme are “pro-respon

Jan. 26, 2012

[Richard H. Thaler] Corporate citizens do well by doing good to others

New, unneeded obstacles to abortion

A federal appeals court this month upheld a Texas law that requires a woman seeking an abortion to undergo a sonogram, forces doctors to describe that sonogram in detail to her and then requires that she wait 24 hours before she can undergo the procedure. Texas was one of five states to adopt mandatory sonogram laws last year.Proponents insist these laws are about informed consent and making sure women have all the details about the procedure. They are not. The laws are about one thing only: ere

Jan. 25, 2012

[Robert Reich] Hubbub over ‘Bain Capitalism’

It’s one thing to criticize Mitt Romney for being a businessman with the wrong values. It’s quite another to accuse him and his former company, Bain Capital, of doing bad things. If what Bain Capital did under Romney was bad for America, the burden shifts to Romney’s critics to propose laws that would prevent Bain and other companies from doing such bad things in the future.Don’t hold your breath.Newt Gingrich says Bain under Romney carried out “clever legal ways to loot a company.” Gingrich cal

Jan. 25, 2012

[Robert Reich] Hubbub over ‘Bain Capitalism’

Difficult case tests lay judges

At the Saitama District Court on Jan. 10, six lay judges ― three men and three women ― together with three professional judges started to deal with not only three murder cases but also with seven other cases involving the defendant, Kanae Kijima ― fraud, attempted fraud and theft.Kijima pleaded guilty to fraud charges of swindling two men of money but pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. As to the murder charges, there are no confessions and no concrete evidence linking her to the murders.T

Jan. 25, 2012

Korea’s tradition of propriety: Godsend for network age

In this age the complex relations developing between individuals outside of the workplace or the family, whether those that develop through online communications within organizations, or those found in social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, are having a profound impact on our society. Connections between people from vastly different backgrounds, who serve at different levels within organizations, can subtly, or bluntly, influence policy. Almost all actions within social networks

Jan. 25, 2012

A ‘New Model’ for engaging North Korea

In North Korea, the king is dead, long live the king. Now what? I say we need to find a new way forward. Let me explain. At its meeting last October, the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Korea (http://www.weforum.org/content/global-agenda-council-korea-2011) called for a “New Model” for relations between North Korea and the world. That call is even more valid with the death of Kim Jong-il. I chaired that Global Agenda Council and I will present the “New Model” at the WEF’s full m

Jan. 25, 2012