Part of: Jefferson Fellowships

Inequality in the US and Asia: Drivers, Consequences, and Policy Responses

Destinations: Hawaiʻi; Hong Kong (virtual); Japan

Program

A three-week dialogue, study, and travel program to Hawaiʻi, Hong Kong (virtual), and Japan will contextualize and compare widening disparities of income, wealth, and opportunity within the United States and Asia.

The broad purpose of the Jefferson Fellowships is to enhance public understanding through the news media of cultures, issues and trends in the United States and the Asia Pacific with a special focus on a particular theme. The 2023 Jefferson Fellowships will explore a theme of “Inequality in the US and Asia.” An immersive dialogue, travel, and study program to Honolulu, Hong Kong (virtual), Tokyo, Fukushima, and Kyoto will contextualize and compare widening disparities of income, wealth, and opportunity within the United States and Asia. The program will enable journalists to better understand the distributional consequences of technological change, globalization, and market reforms in dominant globalized industrial systems, and emergent models and theories for markets and governance of the twenty-first century and the Anthropocene. From the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the impact of AI (Artificial Intelligence), to New Systems Markets, Climate Smart Markets, and the Great Turning or Sustainable Revolution, this program will critically engage with the liminal and applied spaces where theory and policy meet lived experience, agency and opportunity. The proposed theme will also explore how income and wealth inequalities are reinforced by inequitable access to opportunity in such critical areas as food systems, education, healthcare, financing and credit, housing, and infrastructure, and the new models responding to, or further aggravating, disparity.

The 2023 Jefferson Fellowships program will begin in Honolulu with expert-led sessions on inequality in the US and the Asia Pacific region. Journalists will additionally share perspectives from their own countries on the drivers, consequences, and policy responses related to inequality through topic papers and presentations. Site visits in Honolulu will also provide opportunities to observe how growing inequity is affecting one of United States’ most racially and ethnically diverse states and how policymakers and grassroots organizations are responding.

The Asia Pacific region has for several decades witnessed extraordinary economic development, however, growth has not been balanced or inclusive. Hong Kong is one of the world’s richest and most inequitable cities, in which the wealthiest households earn almost 44 times what the poorest families earn and one in five residents lives below the poverty line. In contrast, Japan, has long been considered one of the world’s most equitable developed countries due to income and inheritance tax policies that hinder the accumulation of capital over generations as well as social security benefits that significantly raise the net incomes of the country’s low-income citizens. Inequality, however, is on the rise driven by a greying of society; intergenerational, gender, and urban-rural wealth disparities; and the growth of irregular (hiseiki) employment over life-long employment.

Funding

The Jefferson Fellowships are made possible through a generous grant from The Freeman Foundation and supplemented by contributions from news organizations, foundations, US Embassies, and the East-West Center.

Part of: Jefferson Fellowships

Inequality in the US and Asia: Drivers, Consequences, and Policy Responses

Destinations: Hawaiʻi; Hong Kong (virtual); Japan

Congratulations to the 2023 Jefferson Fellows:

• Mr. Jon Viktor CABUENAS, Content Producer, GMA News Online, Manila, Philippines
• Mrs. Yuri IMAMURA, Director/Planner of YouTube Channel, The Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, Japan
• Ms. Katie JOHNSTON, Labor Reporter, The Boston Globe, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Mr. Shih-Shiang LIAO, News Anchor & Producer, NextTV News, Taipei, Taiwan
• Ms. Kinling LO, China Correspondent, South China Morning Post, Hong Kong SAR
• Mr. Faisal MAHMUD, Executive Editor, Fintech Magazine, Dhaka, Bangladesh
• Dr. Marcel MBAMALU, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Prime Business Africa, Lagos, Nigeria
• Mr. Fayaz NAICH, Director News & Current Affairs, Dharti TV, Karachi, Pakistan
• Ms. Repeka NASIKO, Senior News Reporter, The Fiji Times, Lautoka, Fiji
• Ms. Luiza SAVAGE, Executive Editor, Growth, POLITICO, Washington, DC, USA
• Ms. Stephanie YANG, China Correspondent, Los Angeles Times, Taipei, Taiwan

Program

A three-week dialogue, study, and travel program to Hawaiʻi, Hong Kong (virtual), and Japan will contextualize and compare widening disparities of income, wealth, and opportunity within the United States and Asia.

The broad purpose of the Jefferson Fellowships is to enhance public understanding through the news media of cultures, issues and trends in the United States and the Asia Pacific with a special focus on a particular theme. The 2023 Jefferson Fellowships will explore a theme of “Inequality in the US and Asia.” An immersive dialogue, travel, and study program to Honolulu, Hong Kong (virtual), Tokyo, Fukushima, and Kyoto will contextualize and compare widening disparities of income, wealth, and opportunity within the United States and Asia. The program will enable journalists to better understand the distributional consequences of technological change, globalization, and market reforms in dominant globalized industrial systems, and emergent models and theories for markets and governance of the twenty-first century and the Anthropocene. From the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the impact of AI (Artificial Intelligence), to New Systems Markets, Climate Smart Markets, and the Great Turning or Sustainable Revolution, this program will critically engage with the liminal and applied spaces where theory and policy meet lived experience, agency and opportunity. The proposed theme will also explore how income and wealth inequalities are reinforced by inequitable access to opportunity in such critical areas as food systems, education, healthcare, financing and credit, housing, and infrastructure, and the new models responding to, or further aggravating, disparity.

The 2023 Jefferson Fellowships program will begin in Honolulu with expert-led sessions on inequality in the US and the Asia Pacific region. Journalists will additionally share perspectives from their own countries on the drivers, consequences, and policy responses related to inequality through topic papers and presentations. Site visits in Honolulu will also provide opportunities to observe how growing inequity is affecting one of United States’ most racially and ethnically diverse states and how policymakers and grassroots organizations are responding.

The Asia Pacific region has for several decades witnessed extraordinary economic development, however, growth has not been balanced or inclusive. Hong Kong is one of the world’s richest and most inequitable cities, in which the wealthiest households earn almost 44 times what the poorest families earn and one in five residents lives below the poverty line. In contrast, Japan, has long been considered one of the world’s most equitable developed countries due to income and inheritance tax policies that hinder the accumulation of capital over generations as well as social security benefits that significantly raise the net incomes of the country’s low-income citizens. Inequality, however, is on the rise driven by a greying of society; intergenerational, gender, and urban-rural wealth disparities; and the growth of irregular (hiseiki) employment over life-long employment.

Funding

The Jefferson Fellowships are made possible through a generous grant from The Freeman Foundation and supplemented by contributions from news organizations, foundations, US Embassies, and the East-West Center.