Move $3.6M From PRC to HK: 800 Card Swipes

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 3/29/2016 08:45:00 AM
If the magnetic strip wears out, get another one. Over the past few months [1, 2], I've discussed the extreme lengths people on the Chinese mainland took to get money out of the PRC. Knowing that the yuan was likely to depreciate, Hong Kong with its longstanding currency peg represented a "safe haven" to them. It was not long before PRC authorities got around to banning capital outflows to Hong Kong--especially on such a grand scale. However, that action didn't stop the most determined from simply giving up and accepting depreciation as fate. With limits for card transactions limited to $5,000 at a time, but with no limits...
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Fighting PRC Illegal Fishers in Argentina, Indonesia

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 3/23/2016 05:18:00 PM
PRC "fishing" boat headed for Davy Jones' Locker. The PRC's fisher militia strikes again, destroying goodwill as it poaches throughout the world. I have previously written about how the PRC deploys its so-called "fishing" vessels in pursuit of foreign policy objectives in the Philippines. Aside from exacerbating overfishing by exploiting waters they have dubious claims to, Chinese fishing vessels serve a paramilitary purpose. Being ostensibly "civilian" ships instead of military ones, they should raise fewer suspicions when they accomplish national policy. Lest you think I'm biased, two recent incidents illustrate the...
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Trump & Sanders: Actually, Americans [Heart] Trade

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 3/21/2016 01:30:00 AM
Americans are anti-trade? Whatever. With the US primaries underway to select the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, you'd be in pretty good company if you believed that Americans have turned decisively against trade. To blame trade with other nations as an all-purpose scapegoat has, indeed, become quite the pastime when hard left (Sanders) and hard right (Trump) candidates both bash it quite lustily. Such may be the conventional wisdom these days. Or is it? NPR points out that, actually, a recent Gallup poll indicates that public attitudes towards trade Stateside have taken a turn for the better. That is,...
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'Liquid American Freedom': On US Resuming Oil Exports

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 3/15/2016 04:07:00 PM
Salvo #1 in Liquid American Freedom: resuming US oil exports after four decades. So far this year, Iran resuming its exports of oil after years of being frozen out of various markets due to sanctions--especially those in Europe--has made the most headlines. Actually, it's the good ol' US of A also resuming its energy exports that is the more interesting event, geopolitically speaking. However, the media coverage of that event has been limited for some reason. For the longest time, the United States was obviously the world's largest importer of the stuff. However, China has since usurped that title. What's more, the shale...
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Counting Down to Myanmar's Stock Market Opening

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 3/13/2016 07:06:00 PM
First the grand opening; come March it's live trading. One good turn deserves another: following discussions of a much-anticipated IPO on Vietnam's stock exchange, we should discuss the imminent opening of Myanmar's as one of Southeast Asia's frontier CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Mynamar, Vietnam) markets. To say that years of economic isolation--partly self-imposed, partly the result of international economic sanctions--have left Myanmar's economy in a funky shape is an understatement. Consider its foreign exchange regime: Myanmar has four currency rates, no credit rating, and a shiny new stock exchange that doesn’t yet trade... Myanmar’s...
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Can 'Bikini Airline' VietJet Dominate Cheap Flights?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 3/11/2016 10:15:00 AM
I'll bet you don't get this in Emirates marketing materials: VietJet as a Southeast Asian force in budget carriers. Here's a rather unexpected love letter to the positives of both market socialism and Southeast Asian economic integration. Although doi moi policies opening Vietnam up to the rest of the world were implemented during the mid-1980s, it's taken some time for the Vietnamese to catch up in terms of market development with the rest of the region. Its total stock market capitalization is around $46.01B according to World Bank figures. However, that may change soon. Civil aviation has been a noteworthy industry...
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India vs US @ WTO on Solar Panels, Work Visas

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 3/09/2016 03:54:00 PM
You can have a national solar program...but the WTO says you should not discriminate against foreign solar panels. With "friends" like the US and India, it seems there is no need for enemies--at least in the trade realm. A few years ago, the US complained that India was discriminating against foreign producers of solar panels by requiring that government-subsidized purchases meet a local content requirement under a national procurement program. [See case DS 456.] Late last year, the WTO dispute settlement mechanism ruled against India. Recently, an appeal by India on the matter was also rejected: A three-member dispute...
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Will Korea Welcome More Migrants Than Japan?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,, at 3/04/2016 11:41:00 AM
Maybe "Korean multiculturalism" won't be an oxymoron in the near future. When it comes to the least fertile countries in the world, East Asian ones are pretty much at the bottom of global league tables. Since the demographic consequences of this phenomenon are dire--ever-fewer workers supporting a larger number of economically inactive--these countries have naturally been investigating solutions ranging from increasing benefits for new parents to improving the image of parenthood. To date, none have really worked in East Asia. Enter migration: if people will not have children of their own who will eventually enter the...
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