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Category Archives: Essays & Writing

Means-testing and extending the undergraduate Tuition Grant Scheme

(Taipei) Competition is a necessary but sometimes insufficient condition for quality.

Two years ago around this time, shortly after my stint at a DC think-tank and a public policy summer camp, I wrote my first op-ed on higher education subsidies in Singapore, and it got some attention from legislators and published in the state media.

The subsidy, the Tuition Grant Scheme administered by the education ministry, is not means-tested and subsidy amounts depend on the specific university and field of study, and is fairly substantial – as much as 75% of full tuition. It is also tied not to citizenship or residency (as is common elsewhere) but to attendance at certain schools in Singapore, namely the local public universities and the vocational and trade schools (the polytechnics and other diploma providers). I use the term public because all of them also receive operating subsidies via the education ministry. Anyone who attends these schools is eligible for the subsidy – rich or poor, citizen or foreign national – but these schools only. I am primarily concerned with its provision at the undergraduate level though in principle my arguments extend also to the vocational and trade schools.*

Continued…

Posted in Economics, Education, Essays & Writing, Singapore.

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By qui tacet – July 22, 2009
Globalization and the Korean Economy

No, not that Korean economy. The other one. (Pyongyang railway station)

I’ve received some e-mail (fewer than anticipated) asking whether I am still alive, so let this allay your concerns. Some of what has kept me busy since term started are my several writing commitments. One of which is for the Korea Times, in which my essay on globalization, trade and finance has been published in the Nov 1st edition. You can read it here.

Continued…

Posted in Economics, Essays & Writing, Korea.

4 comments

By qui tacet – October 31, 2008
How to win essay contests

In imperial China, essay contests could get you a cushy bureaucrat sinecure. (Confucius Temple, Beijing)

I get this question a lot from friends, even though I’m no expert on the subject. It’s hard for me to find the right answer because generalizing about essay competitions isn’t terribly useful – they vary too much in their types and topics, and each has its own optimal approach. At the risk of overgeneralizing, I will limit my advice to a few principles that should be applicable to all kinds of essay contests on any topic under the sun. I draw mostly from my experiences writing for and judging.

Continued…

Posted in Essays & Writing.

2 comments

By qui tacet – June 29, 2008
Return to Switzerland

Part 2/Teil zwei! (St Gallen, Switzerland)

It looks like I get to see the French-speaking side of Switzerland this time:

On behalf of Dr. Hans Blix, it is my great pleasure to thank you for participating in the Students for A Nuclear Weapons-Free World competition. The expert Panel of Judges, chaired by The Hon. Douglas Roche, was composed of people from all regions of the world. They assessed your contribution to be outstanding and to merit one of the 15 prizes. Please accept our wholehearted congratulations!

Continued…

Posted in Economics, Essays & Writing.

3 comments

By qui tacet – June 19, 2008
GSGLP, IHS, China Synergy

These days I have come to accept that disappointment is a part of life and I should get used to rejection. You win some, you lose some. But it really sucks to have lost the important one.

Continued…

Posted in College Life, Essays & Writing.

3 comments

By qui tacet – March 31, 2008
The precise moment the universe shattered

It was the precise moment the universe shattered.

The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Continued…

Posted in Bildungsroman, Essays & Writing.

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By qui tacet – January 24, 2008
Microfinance education via television dramas

Microfinance usually isn’t this dramatic…

In July 2007, the South Korean ministry of finance announced that it had hired the lead actor and actress from a hit television serial that aired May-July to promote their microcredit program. That television serial, “War of Money” (쩐의전쟁), was about the informal moneylending industry in South Korea, reaching an average of 32.8% of households in the greater Seoul area and 31% nationwide, and it was the top-rated serial of the season, so popular that ‘bonus’ episodes were produced – it remains one of my personal all-time favorite kdramas. Much of its storyline emphasized themes of income volatility, uncollateralized credit, innovative entrepreneurship, and good (and bad) borrowing practices – all themes relevant to microfinance. In an interview prior to the serial’s airing, the lead actor Park Shin-yang (박신양, of Lovers in Paris/파리의연인 fame) had even noted that one of the sources of inspiration that he drew from was the work of Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank.

Perhaps it may be useful to take “Money’s Warfare” one step further, and consider a similar application of television serials in microfinance education, through its plot, themes, and product placement strategy.

Continued…

Posted in China, Development, Essays & Writing, Korea, TV Dramas.

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By qui tacet – January 17, 2008
Yenmillionaire, not

So it’s confirmed, I’m going to Tokyo, and they have posted the full text of the essay online if you care to read it. Although they liked my essay, they didn’t like it enough:

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Posted in Anime, Economics, Essays & Writing, Japan, Japan - Tokyo Trip.

2 comments

By qui tacet – December 14, 2007
Gundam and Economics

My love of anime, combined with my interest in Japanese business, has finally paid off, and I might have the opportunity to visit Tokyo in January.

We would like to express our gratitude to you for submitting your essay to the JFTC Essay Competition 2007. After a strict screening of all the essays, we have selected your essay, “Gundamnomics: Transforming Corporate Japan for the Challenges of Global Capitalism” as a candidate for an award. The final result is scheduled to be announced on Friday, December 14, and the winners will be notified directly. The Awarding Ceremony and our New Year’s Reception will be held from 16:30 to 19:00 on January 9, 2008 at Hotel New Otani, Tokyo, Japan.

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Posted in Anime, Economics, Essays & Writing, Japan, Japan - Tokyo Trip.

4 comments

By qui tacet – December 2, 2007
My first ISBN number

Is 978-2-940401-00-0. Which means I now have a Chicago-style journal citation in addition to a newspaper citation to my name.

Posted in Economics, Essays & Writing.

3 comments

By qui tacet – November 4, 2007
Published in ST

Although my op-ed has finally been published in the Straits Times review section as a joint submission, I can’t help but feel a little upset that they rejected my original piece but took this one when the only differences are that 1) it is less critical of the state and 2) more conversational.

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Posted in Economics, Education, Essays & Writing, Politics, Singapore.

1 comment

By qui tacet – October 9, 2007
Perhaps Beijing?

I am considering whether or not I can attend this without too much cost:

On behalf of the Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet, we are pleased to confirm that your essay entitled The fever at the bottom of the pyramid: Towards private sector and market-oriented solutions for the 10/90 gap was chosen as one of 40 shortlisted by the organizers from almost 300 entries from 60 countries. Your essay will now be published in an anthology to be launched at the Global Forum’s 2007 meeting in Beijing on 29 October. As you know, the winners of the competition have been invited to Beijing for their prize, all expenses paid. Should you be able to find funding to allow you to join us in Beijing, we would be happy to waive the participation fee and to involve you in the celebration of ‘Young Voices’. Do let us know. Please accept our congratulations on this success and our very best wishes for your future.

Continued…

Posted in China, Essays & Writing.

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By qui tacet – August 20, 2007
Not going to Beijing

I might be attending the Global Forum for Health Research in Beijing in Oct/Nov, which would be about 7-8 months too late to when I should’ve been there, or 8-9 months too early. Might being the operative word – I am very unlikely to succeed.

Thank you very much for sending an essay for our competition. All essays have now been reviewed and we are in the final round of judging. Results will be announced at the beginning of August. I am pleased to be able to tell you that your essay has been shortlisted.

Continued…

Posted in China, Development, Essays & Writing.

3 comments

By qui tacet – June 30, 2007
Trapped, or What I Learned From a Princess

ALADDIN: Well, it’s not much, (he pulls back the curtain and exposes the palace) but it’s got a great view. Palace looks pretty amazing, huh?
JASMINE: Oh, it’s wonderful.
ALADDIN: I wonder what it would be like to live there, to have servants and valets…
JASMINE: Oh, sure. People who tell you where to go and how to dress.
ALADDIN: It’s better than here. Always scraping for food and ducking the guards.
JASMINE: You’re not free to make your own choices.
ALADDIN: Sometimes you feel so–
JASMINE: You’re just–
BOTH: (in unison) –trapped.

The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Big Sis: “So what do you like about her?”
Lil Bro: “Everything. It’s hard to explain.”
Big Sis: “If you can’t even explain it to me, how are you going to explain it to her?”

Perhaps the reasons for my affection can be explicated by turning to my twin philosophies, economics and liberty. Economics considers it perfectly rational to love someone who maximizes my utility across the indifference curves of life. ‘Why’ is thus merely a complex cost-benefit analysis of tradeoffs and compensating differentials. But economics says nothing about what that someone is loved for. To economists, de gustibus non est disputandum – tastes are usually exogenous to the models and taken as a given. If economics has no answers here, neither does libertarianism which has its highest expression in Rand’s novels, who writes of D’Anconia’s love for Dagny in Atlas Shrugged: “He will always be attracted to the woman who reflects his deepest vision of himself.” However, Rand’s description of that vision is her own, and to give the standard libertarian answer derived from John Stuart Mill about individual conceptions of our visions is to say nothing about what mine should be.

Continued…

Posted in Bildungsroman, College Life, Economics, Essays & Writing, Politics.

8 comments

By qui tacet – April 8, 2007
Culture of Enterprise international student essay contest

So I won the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Culture of Enterprise essay contest, which I heard about from a friend at the Institute for Humane Studies after I won one of their essay contests. The topic was “Can Character and Communities Survive in an Age of Globalization?”, and while it sounds a lot like a moral standards or social capital issue I wrote about cultural factors in economic growth, which is closer to my arc of competence. My title “The Culture of Success: Cultural Foundations for Competitiveness in the Global Economy” was a little tribute to my dream (well, at least one of my dreams) employer at 80 broad street. There should be a proper press release with all the winning entries posted up soon on the ISI website.

Continued…

Posted in Economics, Essays & Writing, Politics.

1 comment

By qui tacet – March 7, 2007
Dealing with Rejection

The past month or so has been an unbroken string of disappointments, most of all with myself. I constantly wonder whether I am learning from my mistakes.

Continued…

Posted in Bildungsroman, College Life, Economics, Essays & Writing.

3 comments

By qui tacet – February 21, 2007
Textbookx.com scholarship contest

So I won a $250 gift voucher to textbookx.com, an online bookseller, for an essay that didn’t take more than an hour to conceive and write. That’s what I call return on investment. Please note that I actually disagree with centrally-planned approaches to development, but that book was just what happened to come to mind on the day of the deadline. I had to find some way of approaching the very odd topic from my arc of competence and yet remain relevant.

Continued…

Posted in Essays & Writing.

4 comments

By qui tacet – January 26, 2007
A World Connected essay contest

I won third place, and the essay can be found here. I don’t think I did that great a job personally, certaintly not as much effort as the libertarian-paternalism essay, so I wonder what were the differentiating factors that made my essay better than the others.

I am presently trying to sort out how I can facilitate payment of my award since I do not yet possess an SSN. My present course of action is to secure a campus job immediately – I had been delaying this since I was waiting for an opening for a research assistant position in the economics department (in line with my strengths and interests) instead of say, card-swiping at the dining hall… but in view of the circumstances I may have to take up something menial. Hopefully I can minimize the difficulty of finding a job by accepting one with minimal remuneration, and also minimize the workload. The policy of only awarding SSN to foreign students who have secured employment creates perverse incentives: incentivizing working at the least, and not the greatest, of one’s ability. This is clearly not an optimal outcome.

Posted in Economics, Education, Essays & Writing.

2 comments

By qui tacet – September 20, 2006
Speak Out on ICT winning presentations

The presentations for the ICT competition have been made available online. If you’re interested, you can see the very informative presentations by Kelvin and Ming Yeow – Kelvin’s is an excellent example in creative presentation, while Ming Yeow’s is truly professional. My amateur work is also there, but who wants to see that?

Posted in Economics, Essays & Writing.

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By qui tacet – June 11, 2006
World 2, qui tacet 0

The good (?) news is that Geoffrey and I won third place in the university category for the MAS competition for our paper on currency liberalization. The first and second places went to an MAS local scholar and a pair of postgrads (NUS MSc and NTU doctoral), so I think we did fairly well considering we’re both prefrosh. However, the relevant benchmark is Judith who did the same thing, except she won second place and did it at 19 – we should have done so much better. I feel like I’ve let both of us down.

Continued…

Posted in Economics, Essays & Writing, Singapore.

2 comments

By qui tacet – May 27, 2006
The first day

So I got up and met my handlers Hyun-jung, Eun-hyun, and Shin-hye at the lobby of the resort, and I also met the first prize winner, Kirill from Russia, who is in the foreign service and speaks berhasa(!). We went to the BEXCO, where I got to meet the Korean prizewinners and tour the APEC media center – unfortunately I didn’t have time to swing by the Bloomberg office to say hi to Joe. Neither did I see a Channel Newsasia presence… gee go figure.

Interestingly, one of the Korean prizewinners I met is Soo-min from the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, who knows Joanne – apparently more well than I do because I had no idea she was married. I didn’t notice any ring the last time I saw her, so it must be really recent. I can’t imagine any of my older friends getting married… maybe NWT haha. Bets are on that in my batch, Chris will be the first to get hitched.

Anyway, I was interviewed by Arirang TV and the Korea Herald(?) at the media center, so I guess I might have been on Korean television for a minute or two today. Of course I was completely unprepared and messed it up, which proves that I’m probably not cut out for any leadership position. I should’ve worked harder at debate. We walked around the BEXCO IT fair, and then went for lunch which was BBQ. After which, we had coffee and parted ways.

Some observations: BEXCO security is watertight. The place is completely blocked off. So is every other place that APEC official events are taking place – around the Busan Lotte Hotel, where the APEC CEO Summit is, there are police squads all over the place with bulletproof shields. At every street corner, every subway exit. And they carry these riot weapons that look like a blunt two-handed broadsword. Not your average truncheon.

Maybe it’s just the whole APEC thing, but the people here are really hospitable and accomodating. My korean vocabulary is limited to maybe 10 phrases, and almost every time someone speaks to me my reply is something like a confused grin and ‘mian heyo’ (sorry), but they all try really hard to give me directions in english+gestures. Also, for 10k won you can eat like a full BBQ dinner. Unlimited supply of side dishes. Compare that to the meager fare KH and I got when we went to Tanjong Pagar to find a korean restaurant. I will probably need to go on a diet when I get home.

Posted in Essays & Writing, Korea - APEC.

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By qui tacet – November 17, 2005