Gender Progress Index

Gender Progress Index Mao Zedong once remarked that “women hold up half the sky.” Yet in many countries today women are not fulfilling their potential due to cultural, legal and social impediments. But just as society loses when women fall short, so too when men are stifled. Society progresses when all its members are able to achieve more. The Gender Progress Index (GPI) is a measure of female-male progress that considers both the level of progress as well as the gap between the two. Levels are important as a country where people are equally under-utilised is not ideal. The gap is important as it indicates the internal gender dynamics within a country. The GPI also takes an agnostic view on female-male outcomes: male under-performance of female outcomes is equal to the inverse. To capture both the significance of levels and ratios into an index a measure can be defined using both level and ratio as inputs: y = f (L,R). This can be done using a Cobb-Douglas utility function with constant returns to scale: y = (L^0.5)*(R^0.5) where L is the unit-free score derived from the level values (a distance-to-frontier function) and R is the ratio of female-to-male or male-to-female value of the…

UAE EN: Decoding international benchmarking reports

I spoke at the UAE Economics Network at the Canadian embassy in Abu Dhabi on 29 Sep 2016. The title of my presentation was "Decoding global performance indices: The role and merit of 'competitivness' reports in guiding policy in the UAE". The presentation can be found here.

K16: The Emirates’ competitiveness strategy

I spoke at the Kazakhstan Growth Forum 2016 (K16) on the UAE's competitiveness strategy on 21 Sep 2016. The presentation can be found here.

BCG (Montreal): The UAE’s competitiveness strategy: The use of international benchmarks to guide policy

TITLE The UAE's competitiveness strategy: The use of international benchmarks to guide policy. ABSTRACT  In less than two generations, the UAE transformed itself from an unknown, sparsely-populated desert nation into a globally competitive country that is home to the Arab world's first global city (Dubai). The nation is now a tourism hot spot that is home to several global brands, including Emirates Airlines. The nation is also favourably known for its foresight in developing a large SWF that has been used to spur research and innovation in the country (e.g. Mubadala). The UAE was, on paper, one of the least likely place in the Arab world to become its leading nation. Although hydrocarbon wealth initially catapulted the nation, today it accounts for less than a quarter of its GDP, and just 2 percent of output in Dubai. Underpinning the Emirate's meterioric rise is strategic policy planning by the government through the use of third-party international benchmarks to incentivise both public and private sector stakeholders. Competitiveness KPIs have enabled a high degree of transparency within the UAE, a quality missing from much of the region. Most notably, the nation's strategic development goals (Vision 2021) target outcomes in international competitiveness reports. BIO…

Concordia: Dubai’s competitiveness through international benchmarks

Dubai's competitiveness through international benchmarks (10 Aug 2016) In less than 2 generations, Dubai transformed itself from an unknown, sparsely-populated desert outpost into a global city and tourism hot spot that is home to several global brands, including Emirates Airlines. Dubai was, on paper, the least likely place in the Arab world to become its premier city. Most remarkable about its ascension is that hydrocarbons have played only a secondary role in its development. Today, oil accounts for just 2 percent of its GDP. Underpinning the emirate's meteoric rise is strategic policy planning by the government through the use of third-party international benchmarks to incentivise both public and private sector stakeholders. Competitiveness KPIs have enabled a level of transparency within Dubai, a quality missing from much of the region. What future lies ahead for the emirate as an era of low oil prices depresses the MENA region and as it aspires to transform into a knowledge economy?

MES: Immigrating into the workforce

The 15th Munich Economic Summit (Jun 30-Jul 1, 2016) addressed the migrant crisis under the theme of "Migration: opportunity or challenge?" The topic of one of the summit's breakout sessions was "immigrating into the workforce", an assessment of the challenges that Germany (and Europe) will face in absorbing the migrants into the labour market. I shared a personal essay on my own migrant experience in Germany to help initiate the discussion: "Immigrating into the workforce." It will be a difficult challenge for Germany and Europe to integrate the recent wave of migrants given the huge gulf (social, cultural, cognitive, etc.) between them and modern, secular Europe. History has also shown that the migrants groups currently entering Europe have a checkered history of integration. The discussion note can be found here.

Power Language Index

Power Language Index There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, but some 2,000 of them count fewer than a thousand speakers. Moreover, just 15 of them account for half of the languages spoken in the world. Which are the world's most influential languages? The Power Language Index is a measure of a language's efficacy by measuring its influence in 5 domains ("opportunities"): (1) geography, (2) economy, (3) communication, (4) knowledge & media, and (5) diplomacy. Within each of these opportunities is a set of indicators, totalling 20 in entirety for the index. The index is a cardinal measure with a range [0,1]. Below are the ten most powerful languages: English (0.889) Mandarin Chinese (0.411) French (0.337) Spanish (0.329) Arabic (0.273) Russian (0.244) German (0.191) Japanese (0.133) Portuguese (0.119) Hindi (0.117) English is by far the most powerful language, and is over twice as strong as its closest rival (Mandarin Chinese) and eight times as effective as the tenth most dominant language (Hindi).There are many interesting consequences and insights from the index. For example, in spite of being the second largest contributor to both the IMF and UN budgets, Japanese are highly under-represented in senior positions in either institution, and Japanese…

INSEAD: Power Language Index

IIPI Policy Breakfast Series - May 2016 *The Policy Breakfasts are a series of early morning seminars that focuses on current policy issues through the lenses of academics and practitioners in industry and government. The series is aimed at professionals concerned with government policy. The Power Language Index - The Most Influential Languages in the Word Speaker: Dr. Kai Chan, Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD Innovation & Policy Initiative (IIPI). Dr. Chan is also an advisor to the UAE federal government on national competitiveness and statistics. Wednesday, 25 May 2016 INSEAD Middle East Campus in Abu Dhabi, 08.30-10.30am The Power Language Index - The Most Influential Languages in the World A rigorous assessment of the efficacy of language in geography (travel), economy, communication and diplomacy. (Does language predict the outcome of the global elite?) There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, but some 2,000 of them count fewer than a thousand speakers. Moreover, just 15 of them account for half of the languages spoken in the world. Which are the world's most influential languages? The Power Language Index is a measure of a language's efficacy by measuring its influence in 5 domains ("opportunities"): (1) geography, (2) economy, (3) communication,…

IMT (Dubai): Current state of the economy

A presentation shared with the students of the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) on Dubai. The topic was the "Current state of the economy: ready for liftoff". The slides can be found here.

WSS: Competitiveness to transform Dubai into a global city

Presentation at the World Strategy Summit. My talk was entitled "Competitiveness to transform Dubai into a global city". The slides can be found here.