More than 40 years ago, in an essay entitled “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” I invited readers to imagine that they are walking past a shallow pond when they see a small child who has fallen in and seems to be drowning. You could easily rescue the child, but your expensive new shoes would be ruined. Would it be wrong to ignore the child and walk on?　When I ask audiences for a show of hands on that question, they are usually unanimous in saying that it would be wrong to put one’s shoes first.

China's leaders have been struggling with the same essential dilemma for some time: They want steady growth and short-term stability, but they also want far-reaching economic reform. Those aims can’t easily be reconciled.　Up to now, the government has put growth and stability first and moved cautiously on reform. During the National People’s Congress, which ends this week, Chinese policy makers seemed reluctant to recalibrate. But that’s what they need to do. They should accelerate the pace of r

With the general election in Korea just a couple months away, a recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development appears to be timely. 　The report, “Financing Democracy,” takes a comparative approach to examining how the funding of political parties and election campaigns has evolved, and how regulations across OECD member and partner countries have been established.　From an economic standpoint, this is important because it shows how the politician-business nexus can ha

I would wager that I have been Chancellor of more universities than anyone alive today. This is partly because when I was Governor of Hong Kong, I was made Chancellor of every university in the city. I protested that it would surely be better for the universities to choose their own constitutional heads. But the universities would not allow me to resign gracefully. So for five years I enjoyed the experience of giving tens of thousands of students their degrees and watching what this rite of pass

The global economy needed this weekend’s Group of 20 meeting in China to produce a “Sputnik moment.” Instead, and despite growing awareness of the risks to growth and financial stability, the gathering concluded essentially with a reheated version of previous policy statements. This is a far cry from the individual and collective actions that G20 members must take if the global economy is to avoid even more disappointing growth and greater financial instability.　Meeting in Shanghai, the minister

　Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook is such a respected figure that it’s easy to overlook the basic problem with his argument about encryption: Cook is asserting that a private company and the interests of its customers should prevail over the public‘s interest as expressed by our courts.　The San Bernardino encryption case was the wrong one to fight. Apple doubled-down Thursday by asking a federal court to vacate its order that the company create a tool to unlock the iPhone of shooter Syed Rizwan

Little noticed amid the daily news bulletins about the Islamic State group and Syria, the Pentagon has begun a push for exotic new weapons that can deter Russia and China. 　Pentagon officials have started talking openly about using the latest tools of artificial intelligence and machine learning to create robot weapons, “human-machine teams” and enhanced, super-powered soldiers. It may sound like science fiction, but Pentagon officials say they have concluded that such high-tech systems are the

Donald Trump’s success in the Republican primaries, punctuated by his victory Tuesday in Nevada, has been spurred in part by his deviation from traditional Republican policies on free trade and immigration, and in part by his argument that some of those policies, including lower income taxes and less regulation, would make America great again. But the latter argument runs into an immediate objection. The economy has consistently grown less under Republican presidents than Democratic ones. It is

Le Cordon Bleu and Taiwan’s National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism have been trying to set up a branch of the famous French cooking school in Taiwan since 2011. 　However, due to protectionism sentiment and bureaucracy on the island, the French chefs cannot show Taiwanese students how to cook and instead can only teach the French language in their classes.　Regardless of the investment in buildings, cooking equipment and time and energy the schools have spent over the years, what

It is the fourth most lucrative illegal trade in the world and Malaysia is among its thriving hubs.　The global black market for wildlife and wildlife products is estimated to be about $20 billion, ranking below drug smuggling, human trafficking and the illegal arms trade.　Over the past four decades, more than 50 percent of the world’s wildlife has been wiped out.　In the past, extinctions were largely due to loss of habitat by deforestation and destruction of natural environments, but today, it i

Among key major powers, relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Russia are the least developed -- albeit full of potential. Leaders from both sides have repeatedly pledged to bring their relations to a new level. But they remain at best rhetorical. Bluntly speaking, their promises contained in the all-encompassing action plans from 2005-15 were somewhat hollow, judging from the records of implementation. Currently, the 11-member eminent persons group, which has been task

WASHINGTON – Being Hillary Clinton, one of the most celebrated women in the world, holder of some of the highest offices in American politics, and possibly the next president of the United States, has had more than its share of agony. Widely regarded a year ago as a shoo-in for the Democratic Party’s nomination, she has faced a far more difficult slog than anyone, including her, ever contemplated.　Yet most of the problems Clinton is encountering were predictable and foreshadowed in 2008, when sh

Two literary stars left us last week. Harper Lee and Umberto Eco sadly passed away at 90 and 84, respectively, leaving two everlasting masterpieces behind: “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Name of the Rose.” 　I still vividly remember the day when I first watched the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel in 1964, when I was a vulnerable high school student. I was enchanted by the splendid acting of Gregory Peck, who superbly portrayed the widowed father,

　In the locked-iPhone battle between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Apple, the feds may have the judiciary on their side, but the tech giant has the better argument.　Last week, the FBI obtained a court order from the Federal District Court for Central California telling Apple to help unlock the iPhone 5C used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the attackers who killed 14 people in San Bernardino on Dec. 2. Specifically, the FBI wants Apple to create a custom operating system update that woul

　President Vladimir Putin has boasted that Russia took over Crimea “without a single shot being fired.” There’s even a propaganda movie that presents the operation as the result of brilliant Kremlin planning and seamless execution. A document published on Monday shed new light on why the annexation was bloodless -- and on the limits of Putin’s aggressiveness.　The news site Pravda.com.ua has published the transcript of a meeting of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council that took place F

Now that 2015 has come and gone, the sheep has reluctantly returned to its pasture. As 2016 crests above the horizon, the monkey emerges from its nest, ready to engage in mischief or untaught antics. Naturally, the monkey year is in full swing so the next 12 months will be dominated by the wiles of the red zodiac primate. Monkey is the ninth astrological animal of the Chinese calendar.  　One Chinese Fortuneteller Blog likens the monkey to the first metal of the cycle of elements. This makes the

Can professional golf help explain what is now happening with the stock market? I think that it can, because it offers a clue about an important source of this month’s market volatility: human psychology.　The best golfers make par on most holes. They also have plenty of chances to make a welcome birdie (one under par) or to avoid a dreaded bogey (one over par). To do either, they have to sink a putt.　A stroke is a stroke, so you might think that whether a pro makes a putt can’t possibly depend o

WASHINGTON -- Next week, at a summit in California, U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with the leaders of the 10 countries of Asia’s most important regional grouping: the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The event, the first-ever U.S.-ASEAN summit on American soil, is being touted as a sign of America’s growing interest in Southeast Asia. The question is whether the U.S., by inviting all members of ASEAN, has allowed its interests to overwhelm its principles. 　The upcoming summit is t

Not a day passes that I don’t get a call from the media asking me to compare Bernie Sanders’ and Hillary Clinton’s tax plans, or bank plans, or health care plans.　I don’t mind. I’ve been teaching public policy for much of the last 35 years. I’m a policy wonk. But detailed policy proposals are as relevant to the election of 2016 as is that gaseous planet beyond Pluto. They don’t have a chance of making it, as things are now.　The other day, Bill Clinton attacked Sanders’ proposal for a single-paye

It’s hard to remember a presidential address with more rhetorical dissonance. In his final State of the Union, President Barack Obama offered a hopeful vision of the future while also expressing little interest in achieving it over the next 12 months.　Obama began the speech by paying lip service to bipartisanship and ended it by lamenting the “rancor and suspicion” that dominates Washington, pleading with the country to “fix our politics.” High notes, both.　But in between, he took a dismissive t