Writings
Research & Misc
All-Timer Books
Archive
About Me
Contact

Subscribe

You will be notified whenever an article is published on my website.

Thank you!

About Nick: i am an economist based in malaysia. I write about ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND POLITICAL ECONOMY, while sneaking in a pop culture reference or two.

Nicholas Khaw

Jun 5
Jun 5 Trust, National Development and Jurassic World

Nicholas Khaw
Economic Growth, History, Malaysia, Trust

Trust grants a sense of security in society that those being governed will be taken care of by those who govern. It builds a foundation for society to build on…

May 8
May 8 The European Super League and a Systemic Failure in Innovation

Nicholas Khaw
Football, Malaysia, Innovation, Economic Growth

Without attempting something bold, our every social, political or economic possibility will always be “20 years away” or some faraway vision for us to achieve.

Apr 5
Apr 5 The Ripples of Covid-19 Vaccination

Nicholas Khaw
Covid-19, Justice, Politics

It is only with the passage of time that we will be able to see some of the unintended consequences of the global efforts on vaccines and vaccination. In this essay, I want to discuss four ripples.

Mar 8
Mar 8 A Future of More Frequent Chaos

Nicholas Khaw
Economic Growth, Malaysia, Policy, U.S.A., Wealth Inequality

Ultimately, while we must certainly care about infrastructure and the economy, it is real lives and real people that form the centre of our preparations towards more frequent tail events.

Feb 8
Feb 8 A True Test of Our Collective Machinery

Nicholas Khaw
Covid-19, Economic Growth, Policy

The implementation of vaccine distribution will make or break our vaccination strategy and will have important consequences for our more macroeconomic outcomes such as GDP growth and employment rates.

Jan 15
Jan 15 Our Malaysian Journey Forward

Nicholas Khaw
Malaysia, Wealth Inequality, Justice

But what I think we need to spend more time on is this redistribution of power and privilege across society. And to do this, we need to accept that those with power and privilege need to give substantive amounts up.

Dec 12
Dec 12 Democracy a Verb and Not Just a Noun

Nicholas Khaw
Democracy, Justice, Reflections, Politics

Democracy should be a verb, not a mere noun, and a big part of democracy and, therefore, answering the question of “How do we live together?” requires more humility in our thoughts and actions

Nov 11
Nov 11 More Information on Tackling Local Covid-19 Cases Needs to be Made Public

Nicholas Khaw
Malaysia, Policy, Statistics, Covid-19

Trust is key to an all-of-society approach to tackling Covid-19, but trust must be earned, not just assumed.

Oct 10
Oct 10 WEIRD and the Bangsar Bubble

Nicholas Khaw
culture & identity, History, Malaysia

Understanding the psychology of Malaysians is important because no institution, technology, “best practice” or even culture can ever be effective if it does not “fit” the social norms, and therefore psychology, of its people.

Sep 9
Sep 9 How Employment in Malaysia is Particularly Vulnerable to the Coronavirus

Nicholas Khaw
jobs & employment, Policy, Economic Growth

The underlying reason behind Malaysia’s vulnerability to a halt in production — via measures such as the Movement Control Order — is because large chunks of its jobs do not lend themselves to the possibility of working from home.

Aug 13
Aug 13 On Evolution, Innovation, R&D and the 12th Malaysia Plan

Nicholas Khaw
Economic Growth, Malaysia, Innovation

If successful innovation in nature comes from repurposing existing things to new functions, then we need to have as many “existing things” as possible.

Jul 11
Jul 11 Holding "Due Process" Accountable

Nicholas Khaw
Economics, Justice, U.S.A., Policy

Historical discrimination can have serious contemporary consequences via arcane laws or outdated organisations. We need to be more critical of institutions, however “fair” they may purport to be.

Load More
 

Hi, I'm Nick. My research interests and intellectual passions are in the the political economy of economic development particularly related to the long term persistence of historical events and cultural/institutional co-evolutionary factors on economic and public policy outcomes today.

I serve as an economist in Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, where I am Head of Research and Co-Head of Private Markets, Investments. My work covers Investments research, private markets investing (direct and indirect), Dana Impak, Khazanah’s knowledge management and Khazanah’s public policy engagement. I am also a Trustee of the Khazanah Research Institute.

I also write a monthly column for The Edge Malaysia.

 

Writings     Research & Misc   All-Timer Books  Archive     About Me     Contact

 
 

Powered by Squarespace