* This is my article in BusinessWorld last January 30, 2017.
“Progress by its very nature cannot be planned. It is
knowing what we have not known before that makes us wiser men... Progress is
movement for progress’ sake, for it is in the process of learning, and in the
effects of having learned something new, that man enjoys the gift of his
intelligence.”
-- Friedrich Hayek, Chapter 3,
“The Common Sense of Progress,”
The Constitution of Liberty (1960)
Many Asian societies have experienced economic and social
upheavals and ups and downs in growth and political stability for more than the
past two decades. These have been expected because people aspire for
improvement and, as a result, they demand change.
After going through these upheavals, societies emerge
somehow stronger, better, and more dynamic.
There are many indicators of growth and development and
among them is the ability of the people in developing Asian economies to (a)
travel by plane, (b) buy new models of mobile phones for communication and
information, and (c) have access to the Web and the Internet.
Below are the numbers for selected Asian economies,
grouped into three: (1) developing north and south Asia, (2) developing South
East Asia, and (c) developed Asia plus Australia. For purposes of brevity,
countries with small populations, those three million and below -- Bhutan,
Brunei, Maldives, Mongolia -- are excluded from this list (see table).
The above numbers show the following:
(1) The pace of expansion in mobile phone subscriptions
and Internet use in developing economies has been very fast over the past
decade and a half, especially for India, Bangladesh and Nepal; Cambodia, Laos,
Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV). As a result, people now can learn new and more
skills, or simply be regularly connected with their families, clans, and friends.
(2) The same pattern can be seen in air travel, as
indicated by the number of airline passengers in the region. Indonesia and the
Philippines experienced fast rate of growth in this area, along with China,
India, and CLMV.
(3) Expansion in developed Asia + Australia is muted and
modest compared to their developing neighbors.
Therefore, Hayek is correct in his observation about
human progress. It is the less-planned and less socially-engineered economies
that are experiencing faster improvement at least in these three indicators.
This is partly because the developed economies are dealing with plenty and
rising government regulations that tend to restrict faster growth.
The subject of human and social progress in Asia will
again be discussed in the forthcoming “Asia Liberty Forum” (ALF) in Mumbai,
India, Feb. 9-11. This big international conference will be jointly sponsored
by the Center for Civil Society (India), Atlas Economic Research Foundation
(USA) and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF, Germany).
Among the important topics to be discussed will be (a)
overview of what’s happening in the freedom/liberal movement around the world
and Asia, (b) State, private sector and liberty in a digital world, (c)
Regulations for a prosperous and innovative market economy, (d) Property rights
as a human right, and (e) Education of choice for all: the role of budget
private schools.
The Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia is also
participating by sending some of its regular and long-time partners in the
region to the ALF. Aside from holding its own annual EFN Asia Conference, EFN
is also participating in the annual ALF and the Jeju Forum for Peace and
Prosperity in South Korea.
Through continuing involvement in these three important
regional and global annual meetings and conferences, EFN Asia is doing its
share in securing a more prosperous, more developed Asia through the path of
less government planning and more market competition, deregulation, and
innovation.
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is the head of Minimal
Government Thinkers and a Fellow of SEANET. Both institutes are members of EFN
Asia.
---------------
See also:
BWorld 106, Top 10 projections for Asian economies, January 23, 2017
BWorld 107, Top 10 myths for oil tax hike, January 28, 2017
BWorld 108, Rising feed in tariff (FIT) due to more wind-solar power, February 06, 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment