On the World
Observation / Taiwan Infrastructure Investments
NEVATHIR
December 20, 2018
How did Taiwan politics and media kill progressive infrastructure investments? With false rape accusations, of course. It's not new to crack down on progress with media-amplified falsehoods. It's a island aspiring for greatness with means ranging from malicious fake news to fascist exploitative surveillance.
Then we have infrastructure crisis discouraging capital investments.
Take electricity and land use for example. Modern machinofacture employs automation that depends on reliable electricity and industrial clusters for performance. Poor infrastructure together with inefficient regulation, compared with rivals like PRC, prohibits capital investments, forcing businesses overseas. Yet society enjoyed wasted time spreading media falsehood everyday.
Taiwan is rich. But, one of its main rivals is superpower PRC that renders everything subpar mediocre.
Unlike short-term counter-cyclical fiscal expansion, government infrastructure investment schedule ranges from years to decades. There is no quick fix. Businesses with investments in PRC, taking advantage of superior infrastructure, vastly larger markets and industrial clusters, are unlikely to risk future prospects for Taiwan economic nationalism. The result is deficient private investment for the island.
Routine maintenance aside, Taiwan government infrastructure investments like light rail between Taipei and Keelung are unlikely to induce much private investment spending.
The problem is the island's unfamiliarity at requiring politicians to put forward concrete policy agenda for every election.
Island politicians who won elections after elections without concrete policy agenda but social engineering provide little help for the economy.
To address the issue, island voters need to pay attention to policy during elections, which may be popularized before adulthood with compulsory education and social experience. The island also needs to respect the economics profession, beyond vested interests.
Then there is still another serious problem. Infrastructure is not a area where ordinary voters possess capacity to properly evaluate. The effect of a specific policy often appears murky. Politicians' vocabulary outweighs critical assessment. Research and communication help, but the problem likely will remain due to complexity of modern economies.
Human capital cultivation, openness for skilled immigrants, efficient regulation, etc. are no less important for encouraging private investment. Politicians with no concrete policy agenda are unlikely to offer solutions to the island's economic problems. Requiring politicians to take policy seriously may seem obvious, but somehow skipped voters' attention. Will Taiwan prove a successful democracy?