A monthly round-up of what the ICMR team is reading, watching, and listening to. Recommendations are based on what the team finds interesting or thought-provoking, and are not representative of ICMR’s views.

Why green growth needs creative destruction

Financial Times article by Simon Mundy debunks the notion that the green agenda limits growth and exposes how lobby groups attempt to undermine green progress. He draws on insights from the 2025 Nobel laureates Aghion, Howitt, and Mokyr, illustrating how innovation and creative destruction can drive both green transition and economic growth in parallel.

The Malaysian Levels of Wealth – Mr Stingy

This is an interesting take of classifying Malaysian household wealth using net worth rather than income (which is the standard currently used by the government for the B40/M40/T20 classifications). While this piece is not wholly empirically accurate due to lack of data and many assumptions made, it provides a fresh perspective on why the existing classifications may not feel accurate in day-to-day life (e.g. many people who are technically T20 don’t feel “rich”), and how we may need different measurements for particular policies.

Oidashibeya – Japanese Purgatory

In Japan, there is a phenomenon of the madogiwazoku – literally, the tribe that sits by the windows.  This phenomenon is directed to employees whose services were no longer needed, but that the company could not or did not want to fire, would be given a pleasant spot by the window to while away working hours by reading the newspaper. While for those who were offered early retirement but refuse to take it are called the oidashibeya, literally the banishment room or the expulsion room.  The oidashibeya is in a sense madogiwazoku on steroids.  Employees are typically placed in a room, often windowless, where they have nothing to do.  In many cases their business cards are taken away, and they are forced to do menial, mind-numbing tasks, or given nothing to do at all.