Economics, Politics, and Afghanistan

Let's talk Culture too

When I was 9, I saw the future. One of my best friends, Keisuke, invited me to his house. We sat in a small bedroom without much furnishings, but there was a small TV on a desk with a Nintendo SNES attached. We were playing Donkey Kong. But I didn’t understand the game’s plot because all of the text was in Japanese. Yet, that didn’t matter. This game wasn’t out in the U.S. He had the Japanese copy before the American release. I was seeing the future. And that future had come from Japan.

A while ago, my oldest son’s love for Pokémon led him to a realization. A lot of things he likes come from Japan. Miyazaki films. Origami. Nintendo. Manga.

Japan has had an astounding impact on America’s culture. Just look at this last year. Anime is bigger than ever. Pokémon cards disappear as soon as they hit shelves. And classic Pokémon cards are worth as much as houses. Has any other country so affected American culture?

Well, yes. But not directly.

China is having an outsized impact on American culture as American companies try to woo it. Want your movie to do well in China? Change the race of a controversial character. Want to play basketball in China? Don’t comment on Chinese politics. Want access to tens of millions of customers for your search engine? Censor the results.

But what’s wild is that we don’t directly see China’s hand in these decisions. The creators are conscientious of what they need to do to access China, and it affects their choices about what they say or do. But it’s not like a Pokémon card, where we see the direct link to the country’s origin. It’s like the Earth’s magnetic field, which moves our compasses and even affects how cows stand without us sensing it.

Economics alters culture. Japan has had the greatest cultural impact on America through what it exports. But China has had the greatest cultural impact through what it imports.

Afghanistan’s Political Economy

In a situation as complex as Afghanistan, there is too much to discuss for one video on its political economy. But I thought I’d discuss something that will be overlooked: how the Taliban fought against democracy. Imagine being the Taliban. How do you get people to stop supporting the government? Which presidential candidate is more likely to push people to you? What can you do on election day to stop people from voting?

I learned a lot while making this video. And it’s always interesting to see how economics (in this case, game theory) affects all corners of the world. Head over to YouTube to check it out!

Speaking of China…

Here’s some wild news that just broke: China is regulating how much time minors can spend playing video games. The Chinese government is trying to combat video game addiction, so youth are only allowed to play for one-hour per day, Friday through Sunday. No gaming at all Monday through Thursday.

This line stuck out:

After a state media article described video games as “spiritual opium” earlier in August, Tencent, the world’s largest gaming company by revenue, lost US$43 billion from its market valuation in a matter of hours. Tencent has lost more than US$400 billion in value since a high in February.