If you remove China from global poverty statistics, increasing poverty somewhere nearly wipes out decreases everywhere else. Since 1981 China on average has moved 20 million people per year past the dollar a day benchmark. A few economists have documented the process for this progress in great detail, which can be crudely summarized as a near instantaneous decentralization of economic control under Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s followed by a decade of cultivating and reaping the benefits from the greater presence of market forces in the economy.
It is easy to assume that China’s ascension to the upper echelon of global economies is due solely to Deng-era reforms, but something else entirely may have taken root beneath the skyscrapers of Shanghai and other fast-rising cities in the...
Yesterday, I attended a roundtable discussion on the state of the media in Indonesia after Soeharto, held by the Center for International Media Assistance of the National Endowment for Democracy. Some interesting points relating to different types of media:
Print: Janet Steele (George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs; author of a book on Tempo, an independent magazine during the Soeharto years), praised the relatively free regulatory environment instituted by the post-Soeharto government and noting that the last remaining great obstacle is the civil defamation law and its enforcement. Citing a poorly educated judiciary with little understanding of press freedom, she told one story of how, when a rival print news outlet’s conglomerate owner was logging...
Malaysia is rubber country. Since the British Empire introduced rubber trees into Asia during the mid-nineteenth century, Malaysia has become the world’s number one supplier of foley catheters, latex thread, and rubber gloves - nearly one in two pairs of rubber gloves worldwide come from Malaysia. It is the world’s third largest producer and fourth largest exporter of natural rubber. Recent advancements in breeding and biological techniques have raised yields, from 769,000 tons in 1999 to 1.3 million tons in 2006; the highest level since 1996 (when more individuals lived and worked in rural areas), according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Malaysia Country Profile 2007. The same profile noted that smallholders continue to be the primary source of raw rubber...
from Reuters India By Melanie LeeNEW DELHI - Asia is making progress in reducing extreme poverty but faces an uphill battle to improve child nutrition and lower child mortality rates, the United Nations said on Thursday.The U.N.'s annual Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) report, released on Thursday in New Delhi, showed East Asia and Southeast Asia making the most progress in reducing poverty levels, although South Asia lagged behind.In South Asia, progress was slow in India, with the number of people living in extreme poverty rising by 20 million between 1990 and 2005, the report said. But it did manage to lower its poverty levels to 41 percent from 52 percent in the same period, officials said.The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living with less than $1.25 a day and poverty as...
Christian Science Monitor features a telling story of Fang Zhaojuan. She launched legal petitions signed by a large majority of her fellow villagers from Huiguan concerning proper compensation for land sold for industrial development by their village council. The commonly held land was sold to a neighboring township and then resold to developers for nearly twice the original price. Suspecting corruption, Huiguan villagers began a process specified by the village democracy law to recall their elected council.
The authorities obstructed the process by raising various formal obstacles such as disputing who had the right to participate in the recall vote. Despite that, villagers conducted the vote as scheduled, gathering the required majority to pass the motion. Still, council president Yuan...
There are many guidelines on attracting investment. There are very few on doing the opposite. But if you are indeed willing to drive away investors from your own market, you can follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Undermine rule of law by selectively nationalizing companies of oligarchs through tax inspections and other financial levers (Yukos). Have your colleagues and trusted friends fill the vacancies in the private and state-owned companies made though these actions.
Step 2: Revoke contracts with major foreign firms over concerns about the environment, and then turn over the same projects to a domestic firm (Shell).
Step 3: Threaten joint ventures between international firms and domestic companies (TNK-BP). Raid the offices of the largest foreign portfolio investor in your country...
During the last few decades, China has been witnessing the success of unorganized, leaderless grassroots movements in bottom-up expansion of civil rights. Whether resisting the restrictions on freedom of movement or seizing individual liberties gradually conceded by the government, unorganized, non-ideological, and apolitical grassroots movements have fundamentally altered key elements of China’s one-party regime and its society at large.
In this Feature Service article, Dr. Kate Zhou, associate professor of political science at the University of Hawaii, argues that this freedom-seeking spirit of the ordinary Chinese has been driving the country’s booming economy and it has affected many elements of daily life. The Chinese Government reacts rather than leads in this transformative...
from the Voice of America The Asian Development Bank says that Asian countries can eradicate poverty by 2020. With economic growth in Asia the bank has developed a new method to measure poverty. They say the changes can help with policy and compare levels from country to country. - Kale By Claudia BlumeThe Asian Development Bank has developed a new benchmark to measure poverty in Asia. The ADB says in a region that has seen stellar growth rates and rising income inequality, its new Asian poverty line can help policy makers measure and compare poverty levels. Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong. Living on one dollar or less a day - that is how poverty is commonly measured around the world. But the Asian Development Bank thinks that in Asia a new benchmark is needed that reflects the...
Although Mr. Friedman may claim that the world is flat, we may not be quite there yet. Take a recent BBC article that cites one of Pakistan’s most prominent pro-democracy leaders claiming a senior British diplomat cut a deal with President Musharraf that guaranteed his immunity if he resigned. It is a fairly straight forward story with a claim and counter-claim while the journalist maintains a neutral position on the topic.
One of Pakistan’s most prominent pro-democracy leaders, Aitzaz Ahsan, has accused a senior British diplomat of undermining his country’s rule of law. Sir Mark Lyall Grant was in Pakistan recently and reportedly urged the government to give President Musharraf immunity if he resigned…
The British foreign office has responded to Mr...
This summer international business leaders gathered in China to discuss the most recent developments in corporate governance in China and America. A brief video summary of the topics discussed during the conference can be found on the Business Week web-site.
The conference focused on data collected by Risk Metrics Group which surveyed 300 global investors and found that 93% will focus on corporate governance developments in China over the next three years. The primary reason for investor focus on corporate governance in Chinese businesses are the overlapping roles of regulators, policymakers, and owners. Meanwhile, for Chinese firms the incentives of looking at corporate governance have much to do with deep aspirations to be viewed as world-class businesses and desire to better...
It is not uncommon for high school history classes to introduce China as the world’s longest standing state. Aside from a short stint under the Mongol empire (and maybe British opium merchants), it has carried different names but the political entity that we know as China has existed independently and continuously for over six thousand years. Such continuity is remarkable, given China’s officially recognized 56 ethnic groups and numerous dialects - which are incomprehensible to each other in spoken form.
What’s even more remarkable is that all those dialects share a single, common writing system, the Han Zi. All 5,000-plus characters.
This context presents an interesting test for the famed Coase theorem, which states that as long as property rights are assigned,...
from IRIN News A new organization will help to provide high quality seeds to farmers thought Asia. - KaleIt brings together private and public sector producers in 10 ECO countries - Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.ECO, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) worked closely with member countries prior to the formation of the association on 18 July.“The main purpose of establishing this association is to create a forum for public-private sector partnership in the seed trade among ECO member countries. The association will represent the interests of the seed industry; facilitate dialogue with government; and put in place...
From 1997 to 2004, this particular country’s economy grew an average 6.8 percent, and it has accelerated since then, while its real GDP per capita has almost tripled since 1990, now estimated at $2,300 - two figures that, if you’ve studied growth economics, indicate it is still in transition and far below the global speed limit based on technological change. You might care more about the fact that 15 percent of this country’s population lived below the World Bank’s dollar-a-day line in 1993, and by 2002 it was only two percent. You might also care about how this growth was achieved while maintaining a GINI coefficent of .37 - far more equitable than America’s .45, China’s .47, or Brazil’s .57. Or do you care about infant mortality - which was...
Bhutan, a small country wedged between China and India, has made great strides over the past 45 years toward transforming itself from an isolated kingdom into a fledgling modern democracy. The country has progressed in terms of economic and political development, but one significant area still lagging behind is the education system.
In his Feature Service article, Kinley Rinchen, Planning Officer in the Office of the Vice Chancellor at the Royal University of Bhutan and an honorable mention winner in CIPE’s youth essay competition, traces the development of Bhutan’s education system and analyzes its current challenges. He emphasizes that more reforms are necessary to make the country’s education system able to better meet the needs of students and employers. As the Bhutanese economy...
As China prepares to host the Olympics next month, the communist leadership tries to do everything in its power to cultivate the image of an orderly and well-governed nation it wants the world to see. But the outbursts of anger directed at public officials continue. In two recent incidents, more than 30,000 people rioted in Guizhou province over an alleged cover-up of a teenage girls’ death, and after a migrant worker was allegedly beaten by the police in Zhejiang province, hundreds of other workers attacked a police local station.
While the government’s response to social discontent so far has mostly consisted of heavy-handed practices, Chinese leaders are trying to project a new approach. Recently, the government has told local leaders to be on alert to public grievances and find...
In April 2008, organizations participating in the Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS) met in Bangkok. The meeting report is now available.In his introductory remarks, GFAR's Ajit Maru explained that the "main objective of the current workshop was to apply a de-centralized networking approach at regional level through APARIS and its linkages with the National Agricultural Information Systems (NAIS) of the Asia-Pacific using newly available tools/applications/frameworks such as RSS feeds, AgriFeeds, and CIARD."The report has information on each of the main sessions of the workshop; the major recommendations of the plenary session include:Agreed upon standards are a pre-requisite for efficient sharing of research information among all stakeholders.New...
from the Hindu, India Haroon HabibDHAKA: Members of Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectorial Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) have reached a consensus to devise an action plan for poverty alleviation and commitment to establish a food bank in the region.The ministerial meeting decided that their second meeting would be held in Kathmandu in 2009. Bangladesh’s finance adviser, Dr. Mirza Azizul Islam, said the two issues would be taken up at the next meeting after further review.BIMSTEC’s seven members - Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal - decided that Nepal would take the lead in preparing the plan.They also agreed that each member would organise seminars and conferences based on the Millennium Development Goals to evolve recommendations....
Once again the G8 has come up tragically short on climate change and a host of urgent problems affecting poor people in developing countries. The good news is that they are at least discussing the right topics. The first Hokkaido G8 document, on the World Economy spills lots of ink on relations between rich and developing economies, including for example, reaffirmation of support for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The next three policy papers -- Environment and Climate Change, Development and Africa, and Global Food Security -- all address topics that are at the heart of rich world-developing world ties (and, not coincidently, major areas of focus for CGD research and policy work). The bad news is that the G8, representing as it does the interests of the...
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from Eurasia Erica Marat: 7/08/08Though much maligned of late for backsliding on democratization, Kyrgyzstan has developed into an economic innovator in Central Asia. The country is presently a leader in extending microcredits to would-be entrepreneurs.With about 40 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s roughly 5 million people living either under or near the poverty line, the country is considered a prime area for microcredits, in which loans of usually no more than several hundred dollars are extended to small groups, many of which seek to launch small businesses.International financial organizations and non-profit groups, such as USAID, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and MercyCorps, instituted microcredit lending practices in Kyrgyzstan in the mid-1990s, shortly after it...
Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, vol. 17, no. 1 (2008) [contents]
- Includes an article on displacement from the Three Gorges dam in China.
Conflict Trends, no. 1 (2008) [full-text]
- Tenth anniversary issue.
Cultures & Conflits, no. 69 (printemps 2008) [texte intégral]
- Focus of this issue is "Xénophobie de gouvernement, nationalisme d'Etat."
Disaster Prevention and Management, vol. 17,...
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from Media Global By Shipra Prakash High inflation in Asia may impede the progress the region has made over the last 20 years and limit gains against poverty, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).Two thirds of the world’s poor live in Asia. With soaring inflation, it is they who are paying the highest price.In China, wages cannot keep up with the pace of inflation, and as a consequence living standards have fallen.The China Labor Bulletin (CLB), an organization that works to solve labor disputes, strikes, and protests, reports that due to increased inflation, Shenzen authorities in July will raise the minimum monthly wage. In Central Shenzhen, the minimum wage will increase by 17.6 percent, from 850 Yuan to 1,000 Yuan, about $145. The minimum wage in suburban areas of the...
The question of whether democracy helps or hinders economic growth is a hotly debated one today. In a recent Foreign Policy article, Professor Yasheng Huang of MIT addresses this issue in the Asian context. The most obvious case study that comes to mind is the China-India comparison that supposedly gives the former an authoritarian edge of fast economic growth. Many believe that…
Democracies are peaceful, representative—and terrible at boosting an economy. Or at least that’s the conventional wisdom in Asia, where for years growth in India’s sprawling democracy has been humbled by China’s efficient, state-led boom. But India’s newfound economic success flips that notion on its head. Could it be that democracy is good for growth after all? If so, China better watch its back....
The World Youth Forum in advance of the G8 Summit has just concluded; it was an amazing weekend for sharing best practices, planning for future campaigns and taking action on the spot. Organized by the Japan Youth G8 Project, A SEED Japan, and the Japanese Youth Ecology League, the summit brought together close to 250 youth - over 200 from across Japan and about 20 from overseas.
The conference was held in order to provide youth input into the upcoming G8 Meeting on climate change. The negotiations are anticipated to reinforce false solutions of CCS and all together ignore the need for mid-term targets, so the young people here felt it was essential to make our voices heard and encourage bold leadership. The statement adopted at the conference included calls of banning construction...
from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation By Corinne Podger for Radio AustraliaPosted 2 hours 33 minutes agoA major United Nations report says so called petty corruption is draining economic growth across Asia, and affecting people's access to basic services such as health and education.It says this then perpetuates regional poverty.The UN Development Program's report was launched in the Indonesian capital Jakarta by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.Program spokesman Anuradha Rajivan has told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific program the report highlights corruption in daily life is just as serious as large scale corruption."Probably a better way to call it would be retail corruption, to give the impression of how widespread it can be, how persistent it can be and how it can affect...
A few weeks ago at the World Movement for Democracy, Larry Diamond, author of the Spirit of Democracy, sat down with our executive director John Sullivan to talk about his new book and “the struggle to build free societies around the world.” You can watch the interview on CIPE’s YouTube channel.
In part 1, Diamond talks about the meaning of democracy and whether it is for everyone or if it has cultural and other limitations. Is it for everyone? A hint - Diamond thinks that democracy is possible in China within a generation.
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In part 2, the discussion goes into the current state of democracy in Africa, including the recent crisis in Kenya and the ongoing conflict in Zimbabwe.
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Not only the government in Burma is under criticism for failing to inform citizens about the coming storm, apparently its newspapers last week showed the Prime Minister handing out…electronics(!!!)
But despite the obvious suffering, massive devastation and pressing need for urgent action, the Burmese authorities were continuing to insist yesterday that everything was under control. On the front page of the New Light of Myanmar – a state-run government publication – was a picture of the Prime Minister, Thein Sein, handing over 20 television sets and 10 DVD players as part of the “relief” operation.
The sad part is that…
…[t]his, in a region where there has been no electricity since the 130mph storm struck.
The national TV has also been showing images of...