https://www.scmp.com/rss/320709/feed Shang-Jin Wei, a former chief economist of the Asian Development Bank, is professor of finance and economics at Columbia University. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com As 2020 approaches, US tariffs on Chinese goods have reached levels not seen since the US Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which played a key role in exacerbating the Great Depression. A key complaint of US President Donald Trump is China’s failure to respect intellectual property rights. Trump and his trade advisers regularly accuse China of stealing US inventions, designs, and other forms of intellectual property without compensation. Many in the media repeat these allegations as a matter of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3043708/donald-trump-makes-china-out-be-terrible-intellectual-property?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3043708/donald-trump-makes-china-out-be-terrible-intellectual-property?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Dec 2019 01:00:11 +0000 In announcing a second round of tariffs on imports from China, US President Donald Trump singled out the Chinese government’s “Made in China 2025” plan as a threat to US economic growth and a clear example of “unfair” trade practices. Is there any merit to Trump’s claim? And is the plan good for China and the world? Made in China 2025 is a strategic directive issued by the Chinese government in 2015 to upgrade the country’s economic structure and growth model over the next decade. The plan... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2152674/why-made-china-2025-should-scare-donald-trump-less-those?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2152674/why-made-china-2025-should-scare-donald-trump-less-those?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Jun 2018 05:30:15 +0000 With a series of tax and trade moves being considered in the United States this year, emerging-market economies are likely to face devaluation pressure and volatility. Three sources of US-fuelled economic uncertainty, in particular, will rattle emerging markets in 2017. The first is a border adjustment tax that would give tax breaks to US exporters, but impose a levy – or, equivalently, disallow deductions – on imports to the US. Both President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2077799/trump-taxes-and-trade-why-emerging-markets-must-prepare-now?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2077799/trump-taxes-and-trade-why-emerging-markets-must-prepare-now?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Mar 2017 03:31:14 +0000 China recently adopted new guidelines to strengthen the protection of property rights, an important step towards ensuring long-term economic growth. But more has to be done. The guidelines aim to advance three key objectives. First, they limit the government’s discretionary ability to take private property from entrepreneurs and private citizens. They stress the “equal status” of state-owned enterprises and private firms, and the “equal protection” of their property rights. So private property... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2055222/chinas-property-rights-safeguards-will-need-support-ground?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2055222/chinas-property-rights-safeguards-will-need-support-ground?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Dec 2016 00:30:23 +0000 Of the hundreds of construction workers rebuilding Hapa'ai, a small island in the northern part of Tonga, the least likely crew is from the local electricity company. The physically demanding labour of setting up and repairing power lines is usually "a man's job". Yet in the aftermath of a devastating tropical cyclone last year, reconstruction needs have trumped gender norms. Thanks in part to nudges from international donors, employers have sought out women employees. When I recently visited... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1867440/developing-asia-needs-tackle-gender-discrimination-maximise?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1867440/developing-asia-needs-tackle-gender-discrimination-maximise?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Oct 2015 06:25:55 +0000 To hear some pundits tell it, China's economic miracle - one that lifted 300 million people out of poverty and shifted the world's geopolitical centre of gravity - is coming to an end. The volatile stock market and the renminbi's depreciation are signs of imminent economic collapse, according to this view, as risky investments and high levels of government debt put the brakes on growth. Fortunately, there is little reason to believe such dire predictions, or that the market gyrations represent... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1855967/stock-market-volatility-poor-predictor-state-chinas-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1855967/stock-market-volatility-poor-predictor-state-chinas-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Sep 2015 08:07:37 +0000