Taiwan has endured a wretched year, despite the early exhilaration (in some circles, at least) that greeted the election of the first opposition candidate to Taiwan’s presidency in March 2000. Nothing has seems to have gone right ever since. To those steeped in Chinese tradition, the seemingly never-ending parade of typhoons, floods, earthquakes, fires, landslides and offshore oil spills that Taiwan has borne of late are omens symbolizing the loss of the Mandate of Heaven – which means that the ultimate “Powers That Be” have determined that the current regime is unfit to rule.
Ashoka Mody
explains the roots of the lack of accountability in India, highlights shortcomings in human capital and gender equality, casts doubt on the country’s ability to assume a Chinese-style role in manufacturing, and more.
While China and the US take advantage of scale to pursue large-scale investment in critical sectors, the EU struggles to follow suit, owing to its decentralized fiscal structures and rules limiting government subsidies to industry. A new EU-level investment program is urgently needed.
advocates a federal investment program, funded by EU sovereign-debt issuance and administered centrally.