economy

Economy and the area of production, distribution, trade, and consumption of goods and services.

The High-End Lie: You Can’t Buy Real Service With Marble
Low Pay, No High-End I Last winter, I was waiting in the lobby of a hotel that called itself the "city's living room." The marble floor was polished enough to reflect the ceiling. A crystal chandelier hung above like frozen rain. The sofa was leather, and when you sat in it, it let out a soft sigh. A waiter passed with a tray. On the tray were two glasses of sparkling water. He set one in front of me. Condensation slid down the glass and left a dark ring on the coaster. He smiled. The curve of his mouth looked measured with a ruler. Then he turned and walked away, back straight, steps even. At the corner, his shoulders dropped. He raised a hand and rubbed the back of his neck.
By Jinabout 16 hours ago in Journal
The Letter Was Dated September 3. The Applause Came on September 8.
A letter dated September 3, and a trial that premiered early On September 8, on the Lido in Venice, in the Sala Grande, the last of the four-hour credits rolled and the lights came up. The audience stood. The applause lasted five minutes. At the same moment, in a Los Angeles law office, a printer pushed out its final page. The date on the paper was September 3. The recipient: Jigsaw Productions. The sender: Alex Spiro. Above the signature was a line: if the content is not revised, HBO, Bleecker Street, and Universal Pictures will be sued.
By Jinabout 17 hours ago in Journal
When Luo Yonghao Says Your Ice Cream Is Bad, the Smartest Move Is Silence
One Tweet, Two Reactions On September 12, 2026, Luo Yonghao posted on Weibo. “I tried the suddenly famous Mr. Wildman at the airport. It’s pretty average. Considering the price, you could even say it’s bad. How did it become so popular? It feels much worse than Zhong Xue Gao. I miss Zhong Xue Gao.”
By Jina day ago in Journal
Beyond the "Fuerdai" Stereotype: The Complex Reality of China’s Second-Generation Wealth
The term fuerdai, literally “second-generation rich,” has long served as a cultural shorthand in China for the children of private entrepreneurs who rose to prominence during the reform era. Popular discourse often reduces them to caricatures: entitled spendthrifts flaunting luxury goods abroad, disconnected from the struggles that built their families’ fortunes, and presumed incompetent stewards of vast enterprises. Yet this stereotype, while rooted in visible excesses by a minority, fails to capture the heterogeneous experiences and mounting pressures facing this cohort. Far from living carefree lives of guaranteed opulence, many fuerdai grapple with existential burdens: the weight of parental expectation, public scrutiny, political sensitivity, and the daunting task of sustaining businesses in an economy shifting away from the very models that created their families’ wealth. Their inheritance is not merely financial; it is entangled with questions of legitimacy, social responsibility, and national identity in Xi Jinping’s era of “common prosperity.”
By Mark Lim 3 days ago in Journal
Iran’s Dual Front: Economic Resilience Meets Military Escalation Amid Stalemate
The fragile ceasefire that briefly paused hostilities in June has collapsed, giving way to a dangerous cycle of tit-for-tat strikes that underscores the conflict’s entrenched stalemate. With US Central Command targeting three Iranian tankers in retaliation for IRGC ballistic missile attacks on Navy vessels, and Tehran threatening “faster, heavier, and more painful” responses, the military dimension remains volatile. Yet beneath this kinetic escalation lies a more consequential battle: Iran’s struggle to prevent economic collapse under intensifying US sanctions and an oil blockade. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf’s stark admission—that the “main battle” is now over production and livelihoods — signals a strategic pivot. While retaining the capability to disrupt global oil flows via the Strait of Hormuz (through which 20% of supplies once passed), Tehran recognizes that military posturing alone cannot sustain national resilience. The regime’s legitimacy now hinges as much on managing inflation, currency volatility, and unemployment as on repelling external aggression. This duality defines the current phase of the conflict: a war fought not only with missiles and blockades but with balance sheets, supply chains, and public trust.
By Mark Lim 3 days ago in Journal
Beyond Capital: Cultivating Creditworthiness as Malaysia’s SME Growth Catalyst
Malaysia’s economic momentum is undeniable. With GDP growth accelerating to 6% in Q2 2026 and trade surging past RM2.16 trillion in the first seven months, the macroeconomic foundation for SME growth is robust. Yet as Credit Guarantee Corporation Malaysia (CGC) Chief Business Officer Sean Tan emphasizes, opportunity alone is insufficient. The critical bottleneck for SMEs isn’t capital availability; it’s financing readiness . In an era where 39.5% of GDP and 48.7% of employment depend on SMEs, the distinction between seeking funds and being fundable has become the defining factor in whether businesses scale or stall. Tan’s reframing is pivotal: financing must be viewed not as emergency cash but as an integrated component of growth strategy, where purpose precedes product and credibility is built long before application.
By Mark Lim 3 days ago in Journal
Beyond Redistribution: Reimagining Malaysian Federalism as an Engine of Integrated Production
For too long, Malaysian federalism has been framed as a zero-sum negotiation over constitutional authority, petroleum royalties, and development grants. While these redistributive questions remain politically salient, they obscure a more fundamental economic reality: redistribution is not integration . A state can receive generous federal transfers yet remain an economic enclave; it can attract billions in foreign direct investment while generating minimal backward linkages to domestic suppliers; it can post impressive GDP growth without translating that output into broad-based household welfare. The next phase of Malaysian federalism must therefore shift from asking “Who gets what?” to “How do we produce together?” This requires distinguishing and integrating three pillars: fiscal federalism (financing capability), regional planning (connecting geography), and production federalism (linking economic activity). Currently, these operate in silos. Federal infrastructure spending rarely measures cross-state production spillovers; investment incentives seldom verify local supplier integration; state development plans frequently duplicate rather than specialize. Without alignment, fiscal transfers compensate for weakness but cannot generate endogenous growth capacity.
By Mark Lim 3 days ago in Journal
Malaysian Banks Poised for Growth Amid Funding Tightness and Wealth Management Upside
CIMB Research’s upward revision of Malaysia’s banking industry loan-growth forecast to 5.5% in 2026 from 4.8%, with further lifts for 2027 and 2028, reflects growing confidence in the nation’s investment upcycle. This optimism is grounded in tangible data: business loan applications surged 37.7% year-on-year in July, with approvals jumping 51.9%, driven by broad-based demand across construction, manufacturing, working capital, and investment-related financing. Crucially, this aligns with Bank Negara Malaysia’s assessment that capital deepening, resilient domestic demand, and stronger external prospects will sustain momentum through 2027. For investors, this validates the sector’s “overweight” stance, particularly for banks positioned to capture corporate credit expansion. Yet beneath the headline growth lies a critical tension: while asset quality remains stable (gross impaired loans at 1.43%), the banking system’s domestic loan-to-deposit ratio has climbed to 101.1% when excluding foreign-currency deposits, a level that signals latent funding strain despite no immediate liquidity crisis.
By Mark Lim 3 days ago in Journal
The Robot Tax Is Back. Here’s the Part Nobody Wants to Admit.
Taxing machines, or taxing capital? An old question in a new shell At the Bund Conference in September 2026, Miao Yanliang, chief economist at CICC, said China could consider moderately levying an "automation tax," a "robot tax," or an "AI tax." He called the AI shock a structural and distributional problem.
By Jin5 days ago in Journal
Australia’s Resilient Growth Complicates The Fight Against Inflation
Australia’s economy proved far more resilient in the second quarter of 2026 than nearly all analysts had predicted, a result that, while impressive on the surface, carries a challenging and uncomfortable implication: the battle against inflation is far from won, and additional pain may lie ahead. Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed real gross domestic product grew by 0.4% in the June quarter, beating market forecasts of just 0.3% . On an annual basis, growth came in at 2.1% , down slightly from 2.5% in the previous quarter but still well above both consensus predictions of 1.8% and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s own estimate of 1.9%. Most significantly, this pace remains above the roughly 2% speed limit the central bank believes can be sustained without fuelling underlying price pressures. In simple terms: demand is still running too hot, the economy is still expanding too quickly, and that means inflation will remain stubbornly above target unless borrowing costs rise further.
By Mark Lim 5 days ago in Journal
Rising Yields And Ballooning Wealthy-Nation Debt Threaten To Derail Global Progress
The International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has issued a stark warning: soaring debt levels and rising bond yields in the world’s richest economies are threatening to undo years of progress made by developing and low-income nations in getting their own finances under control.
By Mark Lim 5 days ago in Journal
Hong Kong Is Perfectly Positioned To Lead The Global Space Economy
For decades, the phrase “space industry” has conjured a very specific image: towering rockets, gleaming satellites, and laboratories filled with engineers in white coats. It is a world that feels distant, highly technical, and accessible only to nations with massive budgets and industrial capabilities. But today, that definition is rapidly becoming obsolete. The true scope of the space economy extends far beyond manufacturing and launch. It is, increasingly, a global ecosystem built on data, finance, insurance, legal frameworks, and international trade. For Hong Kong, a city without vast land reserves for launch sites or heavy factories, this shift represents a historic opportunity. By leveraging its existing strengths as an international financial, legal, and commercial hub, Hong Kong can become a leading force in the new space economy, not by building rockets, but by building the systems that make space commerce possible.
By Mark Lim 5 days ago in Journal