The US and Japan, two of the largest economies, were ‘exposed’ by nature’s fury – no one is exempt from catastrophe. The good news is both have recovered from past disasters, e.g., Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Two other countries have overcome daunting challenges, but of a different kind. China and India were economically frail but today are elbowing the US and Japan amongst the largest economies – while dealing with their own issues, including regional economic imbalances and corruption.
Germany had a different challenge: West Germany had to pour tons of money to unify with East Germany. And 20 years later, “Germany has overcome historic challenges and matured into Europe's economic powerhouse,” reports Bloomberg Businessweek, Germany at 20, Sept 30, 2010. “By some measures, the results have been uneven. Despite the transfer of $1 trillion from West to East since unification, living conditions in much of the former East Germany show few signs of improvement. With the disappearance of internal borders, some 2 million East Germans moved west, sapping the region of what little intellectual capital and technical knowhow it had left. Industrial towns once heavily subsidized by the Communists collapsed.”
“Germans acknowledge that it may take years, even decades, before the country's social fabric, sundered by a century of war and division, comes together again. ‘Politically we've become one country, but not economically’ . . . West German officials ‘didn't understand the need to rebuild the society structurally, politically, even spiritually’. [Yet Kurt Lewin, a German-American, has influenced the field of social science; ‘he developed the framework – Force Field analysis – that looks at forces that are either driving movement toward a goal or blocking movement toward a goal, critical to development’ (and not risk regression)]. The beginning was bad—people in the GDR were like poor cousins who were given money and told to be quiet . . . Indeed, for all the travails of unification, precious few East Germans would go back to the old days, even if they could. When asked . . . whether they wanted the Wall back, only 9 percent of East Germans said yes—fewer than the number of West Germans (11 percent) who did . . .”
Japan is in the midst of a catastrophe, and fingers are beginning to be pointed: "Everything is a secret," said a former nuclear power plant engineer . . . "There's not enough transparency in the industry," continues the AP business report."We don't know what is true. That makes us worried . . . with . . . a culture that ordinarily frowns upon dissent, regulators tend not to push for rigorous safety . . . "You add all that up and it's a recipe for people to cut corners in operation and regulation . . .”
These are the five largest economies – the US, China, Japan, India and Germany – and they’re all far from perfect. Like Germany, China and India boosted investments, China at 47.8% and India at 32% of GDP per latest available data. Yet beyond investments, the bigger challenge to the Germans is to “. . . understand the need to rebuild the society structurally, politically, even spiritually”. And we, Filipinos, could learn from the imperfections of others? Successes are great but failure is the better teacher – when it calls upon the human spirit?
In a bell curve these countries would be at the opposite end from us; and thus international agencies are looking at them – and those of ours. Both groups are critical to move the global economy forward especially following the Great Recession. The largest economies could yield the biggest bang for the buck because of their higher revenue levels; while at the opposite end, emerging economies like ours have greater room to grow. And the more we demonstrate the commitment to drive our economy, the more brownie points we would earn; like a ‘Good Housekeeping seal’ of approval – that would make foreign investors give us a second and a third look, if not more?
It appears we are indeed getting the ‘Good Housekeeping seal’ with the efforts being exerted by the Aquino administration – fighting corruption, pursuing an investment-led economic growth plan, developing strategic industries and the requisite infrastructure projects. And as we demonstrate the ability to benchmark and step up execution efforts, the ‘Good Housekeeping seal’ would indeed attract and generate more positives for the country!
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