New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/opinion/vietnam-economy.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Noah Aniser
Is Vietnam the Next ‘Asian Miracle’?
The article is about the country which is currently the world’s fastest growing economy. Vietnam stopped the spread of the Corona Virus quite fast which has kept their death rate among the four lowest in the whole world. Contact tracing and rapid isolation measures allowed Vietnam to open businesses really quickly. While other countries face problems and suffer enormous economic contractions, Vietnam is growing.
After he explains the reason for their growth and the low death rate, the author talks more about the history of the term ‘Asian Miracle’. It basically refers to Asian countries who grew their way out of poverty like Japan, China or South Korea.
The miracle didn’t just happen, it already has been in the making for several years. The author analyses the reasons responsible for the growth but also mentions possible threats which could bring an end to the miracle.
Potential obstacles are shrinking populations, declining trade and their autocratic government which already rules for multiple years now. They are just assumptions though. It could also be that their economy keeps growing, simple by moving workers from rural areas to urban factory jobs.
The article is really interesting especially because the enormous growth of their economy happened during times of Covid-19. The quick reactions and measurements to stop the virus from spreading showed how strong other countries underestimated the impact of the virus on the economy.
The set-up of the article is really nice because it has the most important information in the upper part and all the background information which is interesting but not necessary more in the middle and the end.
The headline is well chosen because the reader wants to get wants to get an answer to the question and because most of the people are probably not familiar what the term ‘Asian Miracle’ means.
The topic is definitely newsworthy because every country is currently facing a massive change in their economy.