Facing Up to War, Military Industrial Complex, Food Security and Central Banks Jomo Kwame Sandaram

Professor KS Jomo is one of Asia’s most prominent economists of our time, having spent much of his career examining the challenges besetting the growth and development of emerging market economies in Asia and Africa. This, in the context of the policies practised and fomented by some of the world’s richest nations in Europe and North America.

Hailing from Penang, Malaysia, his journey took him from Penang Free School in northern Malaysia to Yale and Harvard Universities, amongst many august institutions including the United Nations, where he also lectured, wrote and spoke on subjects as diverse as the political economy, climate change, economic inequality and social development.

Here, he talks to Khoo Hsu Chuang about the challenges facing the world, emerging ASEAN and Malaysia, and what we can hope, as individuals, to do about it.

(Many thanks to the Asia School of Business for their collaboration with The Do More Podcast, in whose studio this conversation was recorded. The Asia School of Business is a partnership between MIT Sloan School of Management and Bank Negara Malaysia).

CONTENTS
00:00:00 – Intro
00:02:43 – From Westlands and Penang Free School to Yale and Harvard
00:07:17 – How Malaysia’s Multiculturalism Informed Jomo’s Approach to Economics
00:11:46 – Uncertainty Has Existed Before; How it Should Be Navigated Today
00:20:02 – The Fed’s Free Money Policy’s Impact on Inflation
00:21:42 – Is There a Conspiracy Theory Afoot?
00:25:58 – Dealing with the Rich-Poor Divide and the Rise of Ethno-Populism
00:32:27 – How Market Economics Foments Inequality and Formulating a ‘Turn’
00:37:54 – Is Democracy a Flawed System?
00:43:57 – Is War Inevitable?
00:52:21 – How Does KS Jomo Deal with the Threat of War at a Personal Level
00:53:32 – The Doomsday Clock Ticks ..
00:56:57– Living Life Differently ..
00:57:51 – A Panacea for Remedy
01:01:33 – Choosing Between America and China
01:03:49 – Who Drives ASEAN’s Peaceful Non-Aligned Movement?
01:03:49 – Is China As Militant as the West Would Have Us Believe?
01:10:33 – That Time When Jomo Backpacked to India
01:16:40 – What Keeps Jomo Awake at Night Right Now?
01:19:00 – Rules for Life