[Shang-Jin Wei] Can India withstand US trade war?

India has long benefited from geopolitical arbitrage, maintaining working relationships with Russia, the United States and Europe. But this delicate balancing act is now being tested by a series of policy shocks delivered by US President Donald Trump’s administration. These disruptions, unlikely to ease anytime soon, raise a critical question: Can India retain its status as the world’s fastest-growing major economy? The most urgent challenge facing Indian policymakers is weathering the escalatin

Oct. 2, 2025

[Kim Seong-kon] When Korea became a country of doctors

Imagine that, by 2050, Korea becomes a country of medical doctors. Even in a small town, you could find so many doctors’ clinics and sometimes even a hospital, as well. It all looks so convenient, but something is not quite right. Since well before the early 2020s, many Korean parents have wanted their children to become medical doctors, as the job market is unstable and highly constricted. In their eyes, doctors enjoy both a stable, high-income career and social prestige. There is also no retir

Oct. 1, 2025

[Christopher Ketcham] AI promises to make us stupider

Floating along on my bicycle on a daydream of a country road, up behind me came a man on a hissing e-bike, going fast, headed somewhere important. I thought at that speed — 25 miles an hour, I estimated. I saw him later at the crest of the hill that I’d climbed. He whizzed in circles and headed back down while I rested. The hill had been a tough one for me. As you weaken with dependence on the machine, I muttered to myself, I grow stronger. There is one certainty in the cycling world: Trad biker

Oct. 1, 2025

[Editorial] Voyage to nowhere

The image was meant to be triumphant: sleek vessels skimming across the Han River, ferrying office workers from Seoul’s eastern suburbs to the towers of Yeouido. Instead, what lingers are idle docks and grounded boats — the city’s much-heralded Hangang Bus service suspended only 10 days after its launch. Billed as emblematic of innovation, it has become a case study in haste, hubris and squandered trust. From the outset the project invited skepticism. Commuters noted the ferry would be slower th

Oct. 1, 2025

[Vitit Muntarbhorn] Introducing the new cybercrime treaty

In October, a key ASEAN country will host a raft of countries for the signing ceremony of the new Cybercrime treaty. Its full (and rather wordy) title is: the “United Nations Convention against Cybercrime; Strengthening International Cooperation for Combating Certain Crimes Committed by Means of Information and Communications Technology Systems and for the Sharing of Evidence in Electronic Form of Serious Crimes.” Will this “Cybercrime Convention” be an epiphany for those who seek effective lega

Sept. 30, 2025

[Andrew Sheng] Shifts in complex financial systems

Are we in a cyclical or structural point of inflection in what is happening in financial markets? The cyclical view is that in the short term we are going up or down a stock market bubble. The structural view is that there are deep structural issues that are changing contextually the whole environment of financial markets, driven by real factors such as globalization (or de-globalization), technology, demographics, climate change and confusing local and geo-politics. The simple answer is that we

Sept. 30, 2025

[Editorial] Duplicate the network

A fire at a major state data center halted 647 government services at the same time. The state administration has been effectively paralyzed. The National Information Resources Service under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety provides 1,600 government services online, and more than a third of them were down due to a fire in a computer room at its headquarters in Daejeon on Friday. Restoring the 96 systems damaged or destroyed by the fire is expected to take considerable time. It is deplorab

Sept. 30, 2025

[Matthew Mitchell, Peter Boettke] Make America capitalist again

With the federal government now the largest shareholder of Intel, an ostensibly private company, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wants you to know that “This is not socialism.” But if public ownership of the means of production isn’t socialism, what is? With feverish speed and characteristic blunderbuss, President Donald Trump has given the federal government -- and himself -- unprecedented control over private economic decisions. Call it socialism, economic nationalism or any “-ism” you want.

Sept. 29, 2025

[Yoo Choon-sik] Key conditions for winning AI talent worldwide

The Lee Jae Myung government has declared that the nation’s future hinges heavily on maximizing artificial intelligence innovation. It aims to transform an already wired, tech-savvy nation into one where AI is not just a tool but the backbone of its economy and society. While hardware, models and technologies are vital to the AI-driven transformation of the entire society, they are insufficient without the right people to build, manage and innovate with them. Talent is just as critical — if not

Sept. 29, 2025

[Editorial] Tariff stalemate

Trade disputes rarely spiral into full-blown economic crises. Yet the latest standoff between South Korea and the United States over tariffs and a $350 billion investment package is doing precisely that — unsettling markets, testing diplomatic trust and forcing both governments into an awkward contest of brinkmanship. At issue is US President Donald Trump’s demand that Seoul’s pledge be delivered not as loans or guarantees but as “upfront” cash or equity. President Lee Jae Myung has warned that

Sept. 29, 2025

[Lee Byung-jong] Trump’s doppelganger in Seoul

US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung are separated by thousands of kilometers, yet they share striking similarities. Both wield considerable executive authority, face weakened opposition forces and enjoy the backing of fervent supporters. Both have faced legal challenges, with criminal charges pending, though trials were largely suspended after they were elected. Each battled prosecutors during their campaigns and now seek to curb judicial power to advance their age

Sept. 26, 2025

[Editorial] Korea’s growth mirage

The International Monetary Fund’s latest forecast for South Korea offers a small lift laced with a warning. Growth this year is projected at 0.9 percent, a notch above the IMF's earlier estimate and neatly aligned with the Bank of Korea’s outlook. The uptick, fueled by resilient semiconductor exports and fiscal largesse at home, is the kind of revision Seoul is tempted to celebrate. But it should not. Buried in the IMF’s analysis is a sharper verdict: Without structural reform, the government’s

Sept. 26, 2025

[Wang Son-taek] What Kim Jong-un wants

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s address to the Supreme People’s Assembly on Sunday was an unusually significant foreign-policy speech, with nearly half devoted to external relations. Unlike many routine domestic policy reports, this speech clearly laid out Pyongyang’s position on the United States, South Korea and the future of the Korean Peninsula. For analysts and policymakers, it offers a rare opportunity to gauge Kim’s strategic thinking. The most striking part of Kim’s address was his imp

Sept. 25, 2025

[Reed Galen] Budget impasse, broken democracy

It’s September in Washington, and everyone knows what that means: the United States Congress is scrambling to agree on a budget before the fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, in order to avoid a government shutdown. This was not always the case. Historically, Congress spent this month tying up loose ends, after spending the year reviewing White House budget requests, listening to lobbyists and inserting whatever pork-barrel projects were needed to ensure the national budget legislation’s timely passag

Sept. 25, 2025

[Editorial] One team

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in a speech to the Supreme People's Assembly on Sunday that there is no reason to avoid dialogue with the US if it stops insisting that his country give up nuclear weapons. This is an expression of his intention to engage in talks only if denuclearization is off the agenda. The US administration has made it clear that the goal of its North Korea policy is to denuclearize the country. However, security experts in South Korea and the US have consistently raised

Sept. 25, 2025