* This is my column in BusinessWorld last September 13, 2018.
THIS is a continuation of the earlier column published on
Sept. 4, 2018. We are exploring some inconsistency in the formulation that
“more smoking (and drinking) prevalence means more cardio-vascular diseases
(CVD), cancer, etc.” and hence, people live less healthy and live shorter.
The World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI)
database provides a good and wide range of data. The selected data shows some
surprising results: developed Asian economies Singapore, Japan and S. Korea
have high smoking prevalence compared to Australia, US and UK and yet these
Asians have (a) lower mortality from CVD, cancer, etc., and (b) higher life
expectancy (see Table 1).
A Malaysia-based free market think tank, the Institute
for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) in partnership with Manila-based
Minimal Government Thinkers will organize a small group forum, “Alternative
Tobacco Product Regulations: The Role of the Consumers” on Friday, Sept. 14, at
the Holiday Inn Makati.
The event will explore various arguments on the merits
and demerits of more government regulation of tobacco and alternative products
considering that (a) government wants more revenues and less public health
harm, (b) consumers want more freedom about their own lives, and (c) illicit
and smuggled products should be controlled because they are a lot cheaper and
will encourage more smoking and smokers, not less.
As noted by the earlier paper, whenever the free market
is curtailed and restricted, the black market immediately comes in and thrives.
Prostitution, prohibited drugs, prohibited gambling, smuggling, all of these
products and services are legally banned and prohibited and yet all of them
exist until today.
Then IDEAS and Economic Freedom Network (EFN) South East
Asia will hold another small group, by invite-only roundtable discussion in the
afternoon of the same day, same hotel venue, on “Economic integration within
ASEAN.”
Some interesting data on foreign direct investments (FDI)
are shown above related to the subject. While FDI inflows constituted only 7.4%
of gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) globally in 2017, 4.7% in East Asia, it
was 17.7% for ASEAN countries.
FDI inward stock as percent of gross domestic product
(GDP) in 2017, the ratio was only 27% for East Asia, 40% globally, but 79% in
the ASEAN.
These two data show the high degree of ASEAN economic
integration not only among themselves but also with the rest of the world.
External capital and business are playing a big role in the economic dynamism
of the region (Table 2).
For the Philippines in particular, FDI inward stock was
only $3.3 billion in 1990, rose to $13.8 billion in 2000, $25.9 billion in 2010
and $78.8 billion in 2017. Good expansion but still low compared to our
neighbors in the ASEAN as of 2017: $129.5 billion in Vietnam, $139.5 billion in
Malaysia, $219.4 billion in Thailand, $248.5 billion in Indonesia, and $1,284.9
billion in Singapore.
The Charter change initiative of the Duterte
administration was wasted by federalism hard sell and short-sightedness,
instead of focusing on liberalizing the Philippine economy to more foreign
investments and businesses.
Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr. is president of Minimal Government
Thinkers, a member institute of Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia.
----------------
See also:
BWorld 247, E-smoking, smoked rice and ASEAN integration, September 11, 2018
BWorld 248, Inflation, energy prices and mini-greed, September 12, 2018
BWorld 249, Reduce fares and increase passenger convenience by increasing supply, September 13, 2018
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