How Open-Source Software, Forks, and L1s Push Us Forward — Walled gardens characterize the world of Web2. The “walled garden” metaphor is commonly used as a reference to gated tech ecosystems that make it highly attractive for consumers to stay in, but make it difficult for them to leave. From a consumer welfare perspective, walled gardens are bad because they…

Most conflicts and disagreements about politics and the world boil down to boring, technical differences in tedious methodological details, if you care to dig far enough. The great economic ideas of the 20th century led to vastly different policy prescriptions for governments to manage the economy because it held at…

Today is apparently “Social Worker’s Day”, which explains why I’ve been seeing a lot of related memes, posts and articles, some snarky, some celebratory. From a public policy viewpoint, what is the right way to think about social workers and social work in general? The answer is: It depends. The…

Many carbon tax advocates — such as the Workers Party economist Jamus Lim — tend to hedge their support for the tax hike on a conditional rebate (see here). It stems from the recognition that making energy more expensive will create some negative consequences such as higher consumer prices, job…

The most recent spat in Singapore’s media sphere involves local environmentalists and NGOs pushing back against the government’s decision to clear a 33-hectare forest for residential housing. As I write this, a viral change.org petition appealing to the state to reverse its decision has garnered an impressive 37,802 signatories. Students…

The best book I’ve read in 2020 is without a doubt Huang Yasheng’s 2008 “Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics”. I credit Adam Martin for turning me on to it as an assigned paper in a Free Market Institute class that I had the privilege to attend in 2018 but never got…

I find much of Singapore’s public policy praiseworthy. I’ve written a book about it. But one big exception are its conscription policies, which is perhaps its most draconian yet rarely talked about. Jailing people for doing drugs is deplorable. But conscription is far worse. At least with drugs, there is…

At a recent Singapore Tech Forum, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong lauded LGBT individuals as “valued members of society”. PM Lee’s comments quickly drew the ire of the local LGBT community across social media (see Kyle Malinda-White’s commentary here) for an obvious reason: the Singapore government’s attitude towards gay…

Local environmentalists have a tendency to go overboard in their accusations of the PAP government when it comes to the environment. The image being painted in the popular media of the government is that it has largely neglected environmental preservation at the expense of unbridled economic growth. Yet, a cursory…