I must apologize for a bit of turbulence in the blog posts – read that as missing a few appointed posts. I am in China right now and in Beijing – or as the locals like to say – Yanjing (sparrow capital. The old but venerated name for Beijing.). So apologies. But hopefully the gaps won’t be too severe.

I would like to thank Arthur Stein, my UCLA colleague and friend, who as readers notice fills in periodically with his excellent blog posts on IR and all things pertinent to it.

I will avoid the usual clichés about the ‘new’ China. I’m sure you have grown ‘jaded’ (couldn’t resist) with the usual ‘gosh, golly’ expressions over the rapid growth, etc. etc.  Continue reading →