- Deepak Lal: 'Despite recent claims that the “Beijing consensus” has now become the best means to promote growth, there is little merit in these views'.
- Architect Rem Koolhaas' interest in bigness 'has become a philosophy'. No wonder he was commissioned to design Beijing's state television headquarters.
- '...unmanned aviation will create a new golden age of aircraft carriers.'
- The Umlaut, 'a daily journal of ideas and commentary about innovation, society, economics, and public policy.'
- China's military spending is less impressive than it looks.
- The ten pillars of economic wisdom.
- Two years after Japan's tsunami, tends of thousands are still without a permanent home.
- Graeme Dobell: 'The Canberra system has barely confronted its passive silence over the Iraq war.'
- A fascinating blog debate about political economy, kicked off by this piece from Dani Rodrik, who argues that, as a discipline, political economy focuses too much on where power lies, and too little on ideas:
Political economy undoubtedly remains important. Without a clear understanding of who gains and who loses from the status quo, it is difficult to make sense of our existing policies. But an excessive focus on vested interests can easily divert us from the critical contribution that policy analysis and political entrepreneurship can make. The possibilities of economic change are limited not just by the realities of political power, but also by the poverty of our ideas.