QUOTE OF THE WEEK
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK
Mariana Mazzucato, Partha Dasgupta, Nicholas Stern and Johan Rockström, Water and the High Price of Bad Economics
(Project Syndicate, 1 December 2023)
Must-read. Three renowned economists and one famous scientist make the case that the links between climate change, biodiversity loss, and water insecurity point to a fundamental issue: our economic systems are based on flawed thinking. We consider only the proceeds of pillaging the planet while ignoring negative externalities like the environmental damage and its associated liabilities. This bad accounting makes us look wealthier when we are getting poorer, since we are both depleting the source of our own wellbeing and this at the cost of future generations. It also results in inadequate policies: we are forever reacting to market failures when we should be pursuing proactive strategies to shape the economy for the common good (paywall that requires prior registration, reads in 6-8 min).
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Réka Juhasz, Nathaniel Lane and Dani Rodrik, The new economics of industrial policy
(CEPR, 4 December 2023)
A bit wonkish but a rewarding read to better understand what industrial policies (defined as “government policies that explicitly target the transformation of the structure of economic activity in pursuit of some public goal”) are all about. They can be many things, and until recently were poorly regarded. With Bidenomics and similar policies in the OECD and beyond, they are now ubiquitous and on the rise. Recent findings suggest they generally have a positive impact, but nuances regarding their implementation and efficacy are essential considerations (free access, reads in 7-9 min).
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Walter Woon, Singapore’s Role as a Neutral Interpreter of China to the West
(National University of Singapore, 5 December 2023)
Having just been in Singapore, it is striking how big the dissonance between the West and the rest of the world is. In this short column, the scholar and Singapore’s former ambassador to the EU exhorts the West to have a more nuanced interpretation of China. This is in his opinion a precondition if we want to bridge the growing divide between the West and China. Singapore can help with this thanks to its close relationship with both. (free access, 4-6 min).
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Tom Whitwell, 52 things I learned in 2023
(Medium, 1 December 2023)
An end-of-year classic. Some things are sobering (1 in 5 people currently have a disability. 100% of people will have some form of disability in their lifetime). Some are intriguing (People in historically rice-farming areas are less happy and compare themselves socially more than people in wheat-farming areas.) Some are fun (two street food stalls, in Bangkok and Singapore, have Michelin stars. The third, a Singaporean noodle stall, lost its star in 2021 after expanding into a chain.). Others are counter-intuitive (Job satisfaction in the US is at a 35-year-high) (free access, reads in 10 min+).
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Nikki Campo, Can Certain Foods Really Reduce Your Cancer Risk?
(The New York Times, 29 November 2023)
The science of nutrition is progressing at an amazing pace. Experts now better understand what we should avoid to reduce our risk of cancer (red and processed meats, fast food, alcohol, and sugary drinks) and what we should put on our plates to build the best possible defence against it. No single food constitutes a silver bullet, but there are some that have proven useful: cruciferous, tomatoes, beans, nuts, berries and garlic (gifted article, reads in 5-6 min).
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