Let us read two examples on how journalist writes a column on bailout issues.
One is Andi Suruji's Kolom Politik-Ekonomi, Sistemik...!, Kompas, 12/26/09. The other is David Leonhardt's Economic Scene, Perhaps, It's Time to Play Offense, NYT, 9/16/08
If I gave Leonhardt's piece an A, what should I grade Suruji's?
comrade Rizal,
ReplyDeleteDo you really think that Suruji is mainly talking about bailout? I thought he is talking about agricultural policy and Century issue is only an example in explaining opportunity cost, no?
best wishes,
Beki
@beki, precisely, Suruji needs to be (way) more careful in describing the opportunity cost of bailout.
ReplyDeleteYou may want to read this, or this, to get better idea for such opportunity cost.
@Rizal:
ReplyDeleteI see Suruji’s sentence “Bandingkan dengan talangan Bank Century...!” this way:
“If we have mechanism to quickly prevent a collapsed small-bank from causing ‘systemic risk’, why didn’t we have mechanism to swiftly overcome another, probably more important, ‘systemic risk’: agricultural poverty?”. Then I would grade him: A-(the same as the one for the Chief Economist of BNI) :)