Markets

Japan’s work-life imbalance kills thousands of workers every year and it’s also partly to blame for the nation’s disastrously low birth rate and declining productivity. The Government is taking steps to change the culture, but is it too deep-rooted? Japan’s...

China’s international energy investments and acquisitions have drawn much interest from foreign observers. Some analysts tend to believe that it represents a national energy procurement strategy driven by the central government. China’s international energy investments and acquisitions have drawn much...

In the past decade the worldwide yoga industry has become a multi-billion-dollar business. Yet, ironically, the one country where yoga does not yet thrive commercially is the very place from which yoga is thought to originate: India. Why should this...

On 25 February, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened the first meeting of a new special advisory council, the Commission on a Framework for the 21st Century. The rather ambiguously and grandiosely named council is to meet with him over...

As long as the labor market remains resilient and structural reforms deepen, the living standards of individual Chinese will continue to rise fast. China's central bank cut the benchmark deposit and loan interest rates by 25 basis points from Sunday,...

The differences between Eurozone members tend to be a key focus for investors and policy makers.  There is another fissure which is typically is under-appreciated.  It is within Germany itself and not discussed in polite company.  It is the divide...

EM assets are starting the week mixed, as markets await fresh signals for trading. Between the various central bank meetings in developed markets (BOE, ECB, RBA, and BOC) and the US non-farm payrolls, there are plenty of sources of volatility....

When China’s President Xi Jinping took up his position in 2012, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) lacked political leadership. His predecessor, Hu Jintao, had lost control of political power long before holding the 18th Party Congress. The result was a...

Recent debates on meritocracy raise questions as to what Singapore regards as merit. Several concepts have emerged reflecting how meritocracy is evolving in the Singaporean context, such as ‘compassionate meritocracy’, ‘trickle up meritocracy’ and ‘meritocracy through life’. The 50th anniversary...

Over the last week, Hungary (+2.1%), Mexico (+1.9%), and Malaysia (+1.9%) have outperformed in the EM equity space as measured by MSCI, while Russia (-2.1%), Colombia (-1.9%), and Turkey (-1.2%) have underperformed.  To put this in better context, MSCI EM...

Suggestions that China could claim historic fishing rights within the nine-dash line misinterpret international law. While Sourabh Gupta’s arguments, outlined in a recent Forum article, relating to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Articles 62 and...

Ask people on the street what mental image they associate with the words “stock exchange,” and you’ll likely hear about a large imposing building in the middle of New York or Chicago. Inside the building there is a huge space...

Is inequality in Malaysia going up or down? Answers differ. Official statistics unambiguously show household income inequality going down in the past decade, but almost everyone seems to think it has gone up. So what’s going on? Is inequality in...

Banking activity is growing rapidly in China’s $30tn banking system and even though the country faces a sluggish economy, its banking system consists of some of the largest banks of the world. The combined value of Industrial and Commercial Bank...

US prices are falling.  The 0.7% decline in US consumer prices was the largest monthly drop since December 2008.  Consumer prices in January fell 0.1% from a year ago.  The last time the year-over-year CPI was negative was when the...