Taiwan was listed in 10th place on The Economist’s second index of crony capitalism, which gives an indication of how much the livelihood of people in certain nations or cities depends on close relationships between businesspeople and government officials.
The index is compiled with the use of data such as a nation’s total wealth in comparison with its GDP, the Forbes rankings of its billionaires and the source of their wealth.
In this year’s rankings, The Economist listed 22 economies that it described as the five richest ones, the 10 biggest emerging ones for which it had reliable data and a selection of other nations where cronyism is a problem.
Taiwan’s score has improved, down three places from its ranking in the 2014 index. Its crony wealth was assessed as 3.2 percent of its GDP, compared with 5.5 percent in 2014.
The higher the ratio, the more likely it is that the economy is suffering from a severe case of crony capitalism, the magazine said.
In its report on the new index, published on Saturday, The Economist said developing economies accounted for 43 percent of global GDP, but 65 percent of crony wealth.
Among the big nations, Russia still scored the worst, in reflection of its “corruption and dependence on natural resources,” and was moved to the top of the list from No. 2 in 2014, the magazine said.
Russia’s percentage of crony wealth in proportion to its GDP was estimated at 18 percent.
It was followed by Malaysia (13 percent), the Philippines (11.3 percent), Singapore (10.7 percent) and Ukraine (6.7 percent).
China — including Hong Kong — was ranked 11th, although in absolute terms it has the biggest concentration of crony wealth in the world, at US$360 billion, the magazine said.
However, once China’s wealth was compared with its GDP, its listing came in “only 11th on our ranking of countries,” the magazine said. “Were all billionaire wealth in China to be classified as rent-seeking, it would take 5th spot in the ranking.”
“Rent-seeking can involve corruption, but very often it is legal,” the London-based magazine said, adding that the term means the owners of a unit of production — land, labor, machines or capital — extract more profit than they would get in a competitive market.
“Cartels, monopolies and lobbying are common ways to extract rents,” the magazine said. “Industries that are vulnerable often involve a lot of interaction with the state, or are licensed by it.”
Shiina Ito has had fewer Chinese customers at her Tokyo jewelry shop since Beijing issued a travel warning in the wake of a diplomatic spat, but she said she was not concerned. A souring of Tokyo-Beijing relations this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan, has fueled concerns about the impact on the ritzy boutiques, noodle joints and hotels where holidaymakers spend their cash. However, businesses in Tokyo largely shrugged off any anxiety. “Since there are fewer Chinese customers, it’s become a bit easier for Japanese shoppers to visit, so our sales haven’t really dropped,” Ito
The number of Taiwanese working in the US rose to a record high of 137,000 last year, driven largely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) rapid overseas expansion, according to government data released yesterday. A total of 666,000 Taiwanese nationals were employed abroad last year, an increase of 45,000 from 2023 and the highest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. Overseas employment had steadily increased between 2009 and 2019, peaking at 739,000, before plunging to 319,000 in 2021 amid US-China trade tensions, global supply chain shifts, reshoring by Taiwanese companies and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) and the company’s former chairman, Mark Liu (劉德音), both received the Robert N. Noyce Award -- the semiconductor industry’s highest honor -- in San Jose, California, on Thursday (local time). Speaking at the award event, Liu, who retired last year, expressed gratitude to his wife, his dissertation advisor at the University of California, Berkeley, his supervisors at AT&T Bell Laboratories -- where he worked on optical fiber communication systems before joining TSMC, TSMC partners, and industry colleagues. Liu said that working alongside TSMC
TECHNOLOGY DAY: The Taiwanese firm is also setting up a joint venture with Alphabet Inc on robots and plans to establish a firm in Japan to produce Model A EVs Manufacturing giant Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday announced a collaboration with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to build next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and strengthen its local supply chain in the US to accelerate the deployment of advanced AI systems. Building such an infrastructure in the US is crucial for strengthening local supply chains and supporting the US in maintaining its leading position in the AI domain, Hon Hai said in a statement. Through the collaboration, OpenAI would share its insights into emerging hardware needs in the AI industry with Hon Hai to support the company’s design and development work, as well
RSS