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November 21, 2024
 

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Christopher Lingle
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 6, 2006
Jakarta can't spend a way to prosperity
UBUD, Indonesia -- Indonesia's chief economic minister, Boediono, along with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Bank Indonesia Gov. Burhanuddin Abdullah are credible and competent bureaucrats. They put forth an action agenda of economic reforms designed to reinvigorate the local investment climate...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 4, 2005
Folly of vying to rule rather than serve
KATMANDU -- The struggle over Nepal's political future seems to be unsolvable. Just as one group gains the upper hand and consolidates support for their cause, the opportunity slips away in a haze of bullets or boycotts.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2005
Proposals threaten South Korean growth
NEW DELHI -- Han Duck Soo, South Korea's deputy prime minister and minister of finance and economy, has unleashed a perfect storm of destructive policy proposals that may ensure that his country's economy remains stuck in under-performance mode. His declarations reveal him to be an inept custodian of...
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 19, 2005
Tax cuts key to sustained economic growth
NEW DELHI -- Political officials around the world, even in European welfare states, have discovered that offering tax cuts are not just a vote winner that can swing the outcome of an election. They are also a good way to spark sustained economic growth. So it is not surprising that President Susilo Bambang...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 25, 2005
When will China's miracle hit the wall?
PHILADELPHIA -- U.S. "Fed" Governor Ben Bernanke has blamed net inflows of capital from the rest of the world, especially China, for a global savings glut that is driving up the U.S. current account deficit. Unfortunately, some commentators have echoed this seemingly plausible but outrageously silly...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 27, 2005
Will South Korea's economy follow Japan's?
GUATEMALA CITY -- Despite numerous economic stimulus packages during his tenure in office, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun must regret his promise to oversee annual economic growth of about 7 percent during his five-year term. As it is, the South Korean economy grew in the first quarter of 2005 at...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 28, 2005
Low rates endanger South Korean banks
GUATEMALA CITY -- Misguided central-bank policies are wreaking havoc around the world. From Seoul to Washington and back, central bankers have forced down short-term interest rates in an orgy of monetary promiscuity.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 11, 2005
Easy money set up today's dollar slump
GUATEMALA CITY -- There is a great deal of misunderstanding about why the dollar is in a slump. But it's no mystery. Recently, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was quoted as blaming America's infamous twin deficits for the fall of the dollar. And many financial talking heads murmured with relief when...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 10, 2005
U.S. has self to blame for weaker dollar
UBUD, Bali -- Earth to China-bashers: Beijing should not be blamed for America's trade deficits or for the weakness of the dollar. Those that believe so are confusing symptoms with causes. Other elements of conventional wisdom have it that there is some choice as to whether the exchange value of the...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 8, 2004
Tax and spend no better than borrow and spend
UBUD, Bali -- For most politicians and bureaucrats, so-called tax reform is a cover for them to raise taxes. And so it is not surprising that Japan's Tax Commission insists it is impossible to avoid tax increases to sort out Tokyo's fiscal problems. But it turns out that this assertion is based on logic...
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 8, 2004
China leads but don't count India out
GUATEMALA CITY -- During his visit to India in 2002, the local media fawned over Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji. To a considerable degree the deference shown to him was justified on strategic grounds, given that it came during a time of great instability in South Asia. Yet his proclamations concerning economic...
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 16, 2004
State debt no boon for financial markets
PRAGUE -- There is a palpable schizophrenia concerning public-sector debt. On one hand, a high proportion of public-sector debt relative to gross domestic product is seen as a warning sign that a country is suffering from macroeconomic imbalances. Similarly, a high ratio of government debt to total debt...
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 6, 2004
Pie-in-the-sky Asian monetary reform
GUATEMALA CITY -- Following the experiences of the European Union's euro zone, a common currency area for Asia has been widely discussed. Even though an Asian monetary union is a fantasy that ignores both economic and political realities, respectable economists have bought into the idea.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 8, 2004
Inflation targeting can hurt the econom
PARIS -- Many central bankers have been singing the praises of inflation targeting as a way to guarantee stable price levels and bring about sustained economic growth. For its part, the Bank of England helped pioneer inflation targeting and is credited with successfully holding deviations within 1 percentage...
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 4, 2004
Seoul's labor moves could destroy jobs
LUXEMBOURG -- Democracy everywhere increasingly involves politicians seeking short-run gains for themselves and small interest-groups while imposing large costs on most of the population. This trend toward cynical, zero-sum games is most evident in South Korea when it comes to the labor market. It is...
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2004
China lacks sincerity in seeking apologies
GUATEMALA CITY -- It is a constant refrain of officials in Beijing that no other country should interfere with its internal affairs or even pass comment on events that occur inside China. However, this insistence on "noninterference" only works one way since Chinese officials often venture opinions on...
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 25, 2004
Fear and loathing of the private sector
GUATEMALA CITY -- Citing Microsoft's dominance in the personal-computer industry, European Union regulators imposed tough sanctions, including a record fine of 497 million euros (about $596 million). Following the arguments of this ruling, South Korean authorities have taken their own actions. Meanwhile,...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 11, 2004
Income disparities widening in China
UBUD, Bali -- China's leaders in Beijing are eager to heap blame on other countries for their past misdeeds and real or imagined affronts to the dignity of the Chinese people. But the ruling Communist Party should be cautious about casting stones at others while occupying its own glass house. China has...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 19, 2004
S. Korea's recipe for economic disaster
COLOMBO -- A gathering of South Korea's leading policymakers and economists have agreed that Seoul should apply fiscal-stimulus measures through the first half of 2004. It is a great tragedy that this conclusion reflects the best judgments of mainstream economic orthodoxy, because the simple fact is,...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2003
China, like Japan, using wrong antidote
GUATEMALA CITY -- Just when it seems that China was escaping the economic disasters typical of the bad old days of communism, it is succumbing to the theories of warmed-over Keynesianism. Beijing is giving up class struggle and central planning for discredited tools designed to manage aggregate demand....
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
By Kathryn Wortley

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Azabudai Hills, Tokyo’s green new downtown ‘village’
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