Category: Analysis
Mining in the Mekong: Myanmar to outperform, Thailand to underperform
The Mekong region boasts rich mineral deposits, yet foreign investment flows are expected to remain low due to political uncertainty, resource nationalisation sentiment and poor infrastructure.
Will new technologies help or harm developing countries?
Technology reduces developing countries’ comparative advantage in traditionally labor-intensive manufacturing (and other) activities, and decreases their gains from trade.
Food Security be Dammed: Cambodia Trades Fish for Energy
The Lower Seasan 2 dam threatens to drastically reduce Cambodian fish stocks, which will undermine food security, particularly among the rural poor.
Defending China’s Belt and Road Initiative
Don’t fear Western “debt-trap diplomacy” accusations, as Chinese funding comes with no political strings attached.
Eco-tourism promises both potentials and challenges for Vietnam’s Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu
Experts and local officials warn that an increase in deforestation and environmental pollution due to a boom in industrial zones along the rivers are hindering the appeal.
New Report: Bangkok, London and Shanghai among cities sinking as climate change raises sea levels
Bangkok is a city whose hydrological vulnerability to rising sea
levels has been exacerbated by its own water use.
A Chinese takeaway in Cambodia
But the trickle-down effect of Chinese largesse has been minimal, exacerbating an already burgeoning wealth gap between the politically connected, aspiring mercantile class and the poor who can only watch, dumbfounded.
The Cambodian People’s Party and a “proof of concept” irrigation scheme
Cambodia’s dominant political network has infiltrated down to the local level through a hydraulic control paradigm, unwittingly aided and abetted by international development assistance.