Already Singapore is super-rich, Malaysia is on the cusp of being a developed country, and Thailand isn't too far behind!
1/Alright, let's talk about Southeast Asia! One of the most interesting stories in the world that tons of people are
Already Singapore is super-rich, Malaysia is on the cusp of being a developed country, and Thailand isn't too far behind!
The star performer, of course, is Vietnam, where incomes have almost quintupled since 1990.
Pretty much ALL of Southeast Asia is growing rapidly.
What's going on? What is the region getting right??
All of these countries have a lot of manufacturing exports, usually of labor-intensive goods like clothing. Even Indonesia, whose industrialization took a big hit after the 1997 crisis.
Southeast Asia (+Bangladesh) is fulfilling much of that demand.
They did a lot of different things...but maybe in the end the most important factor was that they were in the right place at the right time.
They have cheap wages.
And they have huge nearby sources of investment -- Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Singapore, with whom Southeast Asian countries have close ties.
"Be in the right place at the right time" is pretty useless advice...
Those early leaders can then be sources of inspiration, ideas, expertise, capital, and market demand for all the others.
It's one more big step toward making the entire human race materially comfortable and secure.
(end)
https://t.co/cqXNjLxxHJ
More from Noah Smith 🐇
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Some are predicting a shift to remote work and distributed companies.
Let's take a hard look at what that would actually
2/We're all familiar with the trend of tech companies and other knowledge industries (finance, biotech, etc.) piling into a few tech hubs, raising rents and house prices.
Now some think the advent of Zoom, Slack, etc. might reverse this trend.
https://t.co/nQVCJrKvrB
3/But escaping the superstar cities is going to be tough.
The forces keeping tech companies in places like SF are so strong that these regions have essentially become prisons for these companies.
4/In order to escape the prison of the superstar cities, tech companies and other knowledge industries will have to overcome the Four Jailers of Industrial Clustering:
1. In-person office productivity
2. Thick market effects
3. Knowledge spillovers
4. City life amenities
5/I'm actually pretty optimistic that companies can find ways to make remote work productive.
Studies show that working from home *some* of the time actually tends to raise
Some are predicting a shift to remote work and distributed companies.
Let's take a hard look at what that would actually
2/We're all familiar with the trend of tech companies and other knowledge industries (finance, biotech, etc.) piling into a few tech hubs, raising rents and house prices.
Now some think the advent of Zoom, Slack, etc. might reverse this trend.
https://t.co/nQVCJrKvrB
3/But escaping the superstar cities is going to be tough.
The forces keeping tech companies in places like SF are so strong that these regions have essentially become prisons for these companies.
4/In order to escape the prison of the superstar cities, tech companies and other knowledge industries will have to overcome the Four Jailers of Industrial Clustering:
1. In-person office productivity
2. Thick market effects
3. Knowledge spillovers
4. City life amenities
5/I'm actually pretty optimistic that companies can find ways to make remote work productive.
Studies show that working from home *some* of the time actually tends to raise
