After a month in power, the new government is facing a plethora of problems. It was dubbed a government of skill when it took office and has focused on boosting economic growth. But regular meetings on issues such as oil and electricity prices, expanding domestic demand, allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan, inflation, natural disasters and disputes over green cards have consumed the government’s time.
Even if the officials in charge of financial and economic policy are capable economists and policymakers, they will have problems finding the time to deal with broader mid-term and long-term issues because they are being asked to deliver fast on short-term problems.
This is not all there is to economic policy: the election promises made by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) must be acted on. More discussion and analysis is needed, however, to determine whether the Cabinet’s proposals — formulated by a small group of technocrats — are feasible economic policies and if so, how they should be implemented.
Ministers cannot just nod their heads and pass policies; they must also consider policies that were not part of Ma’s election campaign.
The government needs a permanent organization under the Cabinet similar to the US Council of Economic Advisers under the president. Such an organization could help the premier promote economic policies. The US council was established by the Employment Act of 1946 to help solve problems with domestic and international economic policy and offer insight and pragmatic proposals to the president.
The council has a chairman and two other members nominated by the president and approved by the Senate and includes a dozen economists, a dozen graduate school researchers and four economic statisticians to determine the accuracy of the council’s information.
The council guarantees that the president and government departments receive the expert opinions of economists, while the Economic Report of the President issued by the council each year is the most authoritative piece of economic information printed in the US.
Taiwan has the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD). This council holds advisory committee meetings to solve economic problems and offer opinions on policy. The committee members only work part-time, however. They are free to attend meetings as they wish and have no fixed responsibilities. This is very different from the US council, where members are full time employees, each with a separate set of responsibilities that requires them to delve into specific issues. The members also represent the council at meetings with various departments and at cross-departmental meetings, where they offer insight.
The CEPD also provides the president with up-to-date information, giving him a much clearer understanding of domestic and international economic information. It has skilled staff, but if there were a council like the US’ directly under the premier, it would greatly help the Cabinet, allowing the minister of finance and the minister of economic affairs more time to focus on mid to long-term issues and policies. Policies could be implemented faster, which would help restore confidence in the economy.
Taiwan has an abundance of professionals and academics. We should use them more in policymaking and get more people involved in the government’s efforts to boost the economy.
Tu Jenn-hwa is an associate professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development and a convener of the Taiwan Competitiveness Forum.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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