Is corruption really the cause of our economic anemia?
A few weeks ago, I was the guest of Proyekto Pilipino on their YT channel called "Conscience Collective Philippines" to discuss retirement preparation (Watch here). When I found out that my interviewer was going to be Dr. Leloy Claudio, I decided to interview him back for my channel.
Dr. Leloy Claudio is an economic historian and a professor at UC Berkeley. He wrote the book The Profligate Colonial: How the US Exported Austerity to the Philippines. What intrigued me about his book is its thesis, which shatters our common and long-held beliefs about why economic development remains elusive.
If you ask the average Filipino why our country is struggling economically—“Bakit ba tayo napapag-iwanan?”—the answers usually default to a familiar script: “It’s because of corruption. Politicians are stealing everything. Prices are just rising everywhere!” What about you? What is your automatic answer?
When Leloy closely studied the history of our economy, he found out that our collective diagnosis of our country’s economic sickness is fundamentally incomplete. In fact, he argues that corruption is NOT the number one cause of our economic anemia.
Join me in this eye-opening conversation to find out what is really keeping our economy from taking off. Because before we can really treat the “Sick Man of Asia,” we need to get the diagnosis right first.
Watch it here and tell me what you think:
