2021/01/05 |
Digital Regulation Could Have Saved Taiwan’s Botched eID
A lack of transparency and regulatory oversight over data use beset Taiwan’s plans to launch an electronic national identification. What would it take to get it right?
2021/05/20 |
Singapore’s Government Is Not ‘Pro-Worker.’ These Charts Show How.
Singapore is not pro-worker. If anything, it is pro-GIC and pro-Temasek Holdings, and it is pro-ministers – while workers are left to languish.
2021/12/21 |
Minimum Wage Increases Are Not Just About Low-Income Workers. Here’s Why.
The minimum wage in Taiwan matters to workers across all wage levels.
2021/01/21 |
Digital Transformation in Taiwan Requires Social and Political Transformation
Digital literacy training can mitigate many problems. But this can't be implemented without a thorough social and political transformation in Taiwan.
2021/07/01 |
The Economic Roots of Racism in Singapore
Ethnic minorities have become scapegoated by rising economic inequality in Singapore.
2021/11/25 |
NT$25,250 Is Still Not Enough for a Basic Standard of Living in Taiwan
President Tsai increased the minimum wage by a larger percentage in six years than her predecessors in their full eight-year terms, but this is not good enough.
2020/11/10 |
What’s Behind Taiwanese Support for Trump?
There’s not much that Taiwan can do about China’s threat. But the government can address the economic and social sources of insecurity.
2021/01/25 |
Singapore’s Government Says Workers Are Pulling Ahead. Here’s What They Won’t Say.
Last week, a Singapore government minister said that the wages of lower-income and median-income Singaporeans have increased in the last 10 years. But when we compare Singapore with other wealthy, advanced countries, the situation does not look so rosy.
2021/11/03 |
Do Civil Servants in Taiwan Earn Twice as Much as Private Sector Workers?
The mystery of how much Taiwan’s civil servants earn shows the government to be unserious about transparency and raising wages.
2021/11/30 |
A Higher Minimum Wage Won’t Lead To Higher Unemployment in Taiwan
Despite what you may hear from business interest lobbyists, the historical data shows no clear correlation between a growing minimum wage and a higher unemployment rate.
2021/12/30 |
Why Taiwan’s Minimum Wage Situation Is Still Worse Than Japan and South Korea
By any measure, South Korea and Japan are far ahead of Taiwan in minimum wage levels.
2021/12/07 |
Taiwan’s Businesses Can Afford to Contribute More to Social Security
Taiwan’s employers not only pay low wages to workers but also contribute little to the country’s social security. It is one of the lowest among high-income countries as a proportion of the economy.
2022/01/13 |
Taiwan’s Businesses Are Increasing Prices To Earn Higher Profits
Average consumers will take a hit, while businesses will continue to earn high profits from the recent price increases.
2018/11/26 |
OPINION: Why the DPP Lost Taiwan's Local Elections
President Tsai Ing-wen should summon up the courage to be the progressive Taiwan's young voters put into power in 2016, or risk the collapse of the DPP's reform project.
2020/09/08 |
Are Singaporeans Getting Ripped off by Their Social Welfare Programs?
Even though the money in Singapore's retirement and health insurance schemes continues to grow, Singaporeans can only withdraw a pathetically small amount.
2017/04/17 |
Is Taiwan’s Freedom Better than Singapore's ‘Caged Canaries’ and Hong Kong’s 'Lost Soul’?
[OPINION] Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong: Three very different fates for three Asian tigers.
2017/05/05 |
The Prime Minister or The People: Just Who is Stealing Lunches in Singapore?
[OPINION] The Singapore Prime Minister’s fixation on stealing other people’s lunches has raised questions of paranoia, competitiveness, double standards and inequality in Singapore.
2018/02/06 |
The Bitter Truth: Why Asia's Tigers Suffer while the Nordics Thrive (Part 2)
The root of low wages is inequality, and at the root of inequality lies cronyism and closely held corporate control.