Blogs

If you thought trade wars and the epic struggle for power between the US and China were bad, here’s something that could be even worse. Damaging forms of climate change are unfolding faster than expected and Southeast Asia is likely to be a bigger loser from it than other regions. Worse still, even with all the increasing efforts…

The gods have been conspiring against the world economy where nothing seems to be going right. Economic activity is losing vitality virtually everywhere – even the seemingly unstoppable American economy is slowing. Tensions between the US and China are escalating. And this has not stopped the US from ramping up trade…

Hongkongers have long looked at Singapore as a model for how to provide good quality public housing. The latest example was laid out by University of Hong Kong adjunct professor Tony Kwok in his piece for this newspaper, “How would Lee Kuan Yew have solved Hong Kong’s housing and health care problems?” published on April 17.

As the economics adage goes, there are unlimited wants but limited resources. In any discussion of the Budget, we are constantly reminded of the trade-offs at stake and the values that underpin our social contract as a society. For instance, we may hear that universal social spending would produce unintended negative effects on work incentives or that they are fiscally unsustainable.

It is likely to hinder, rather than help, efforts to reduce the smoking rate to 7 per cent by 2025. While it may be psychologically comforting to think a hardline stance on e-cigarettes will reduce the harm done by smoking, the opposite is probably true. Why so?