Asia war on drugs / Republic of Korea chaebol reform / Bangladesh electricity sector

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Why Asia is losing its war on drugs (Opinion).  “The winners are well-organized professional crime cartels with global reach that continue to diversify and expand their operations while corrupting and undermining any official capacity for serious response.”

Anthony Davis/Asia Times: https://asiatimes.com/2020/11/blind-eyes-and-payoffs-fuel-asias-drug-boom/

 

South Korea’s Moment for Chaebol Reform is Now (Blog).  “[Chaebols are] the massive, dynastically controlled business conglomerates that are the cornerstones of the South Korean economy]…routinely implicated in scandal after scandal…First, President Moon should push for updating South Korea’s sentencing codes to remove the loopholes that judges can deplay at their discretion…Second, [he] should make clear his opposition to giving chaebols…special treatment…Third, [he] ought to encourage all government figures…to keep their distance from chaebol executives”

Jaylia Yan/The Global Anticorruption Blog: https://globalanticorruptionblog.com/2020/11/16/south-koreas-moment-for-chaebol-reform-is-now/

 

Addressing collusive contracting in Bangladesh’s electricity (Blog).  “we find two instruments that significantly reduce generation prices in the private power sector: concessional finance providing financing at below market rates directly to power investors, and risk guarantees protecting investors from losses caused by non-commercial risks such as breach of contract, regulatory changes and political violence…both attract competition – they lower political risk, reduce the cost of investing, and are available to all investors interested in a project, irrespective of their connections.”

Mitchell Watkins and Mushtaq Khan/SOAS-ACE: https://ace.soas.ac.uk/addressing-collusive-contracting-electricity-bangladesh/   

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