許添財:MSCI評比會驚醒台灣人嗎?


立委許添財於12/11()11:00於立法院民進黨團記者會召開MSCI全球指數對台灣的警訊」,他強調:
    台股於上月13日在世界權威機構摩根史坦利「MSCI新興市場指數」的權重連遭九降,幾乎是關心台灣經濟與資本市場的人莫不憂心的問題。但長期以來似乎没人去進一步關注,為何曾經以亞洲四小龍MIT譽全球一個世代的台灣,如今遲遲不能躍升為「已開發」(developed)市場,還被歸類在「新興」(emerging)市場。一般仍然認為繼續拼GDP成長就得了,其實不然!

    富比士(Forbes)專文分析,除了市場發展程度,MSCI審議還包括:1、房屋建築(Building construction)2、綠地空間(Green space)3、法律執行(Law enforcement)4、生活品質(Quality of life)5、陌生人間關係(Stranger-to-stranger relations)

    頂樓加蓋、陽台凸出、佔用騎樓等違建處處可見,不加維修、外牆剝落或水漬髒亂的老舊,甚至危屋散佈大街小巷。令為體會不同歷史文化市容景觀而來的國際觀光客大感訝異失望。

    建築物直逼街角嚴重缺乏開放空間及足够綠覆比率。密集的行道樹擠在極狹小的土壤空間及大馬路上不當的植樹方式均容易造成颱風來襲的嚴重破壞。都市建設明顯違反國所得每增1%綠覆率須提高1.76%的標準。對空氣汙染、城市氣溫、開車壓力甚至防洪皆造成威脅。

    公權力不彰。交通警察對併排停車或侵犯路權的違規視若無睹,執法人員更不會主動到街坊鄰里取締賭博或嚴重的狗吠噪音,即使有人檢舉也是敷衍了事。更嚴重的是大財團那些白領階級的犯罪,像黑心油事件,因其公司可重大影響經濟或政府決策者而無法真正被繩之以法。

    台灣生活品質堪虞,小至鄰居晚間裝潢噪音妨礙睡眠,大至工廠長年累月嚴重排放黑煙廢水,近年來都市內竟然有工業違法管線氣爆或積水不清導致病媒蚊孳生造成的數以數十人甚至百人的不幸死亡災難。好像只要三餐溫飽就足可讓那些從普遍貧窮走過來的老年人感到啊彌陀佛似地。
    歷史上對資源匱乏的恐懼在任何新興市場都會形成貧窮後遺症,就是容易使人際關係冷漠傾軋。即使面前必恭必敬,但轉個身或遇見未曾某面的陌生人就難見應有的禮讓。上班族蜂湧擠在人行道,摩托車爭先恐後搶時間,在台北市及許多縣市都是普遍現象。付款還在等找錢,後面的客人就擠上來。大學生竟然會在去用餐時用書包佔著圖書館位子。職場上同事間比職位薪水高低,工作輕重而相互排斥。

    以上MSCI很用心在瞭解台灣,卻都是我們自己司空見慣甚至習以為常的日常現象。或許它的資本市場評比及發展程度評價警告我們,在國際競爭激烈的今天,國際投資除了獲利性的考慮外還有關係人員移動居住及環境永續發展的更廣泛及長遠影響因素考量。台灣的外來投資在世界排名吊火車尾已存在多年。我們應當有所覺悟與行動吧?!

原文:
Five Signs Taiwan Is Emerging, Not Developed
Ralph Jennings , Contributor

MSCI, the venerated New York-based architect of stock market indexes, will be back someday to reevaluate Taiwan after deciding last year the capital market was emerging, not developed. MSCI found “absence of any significant improvements in key areas negatively affecting accessibility in the…equity markets for the past few years.” That leaves Taiwan shares in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.

The MSCI deliberations raise a broader question about Taiwan: Is it developed? Hardly anyone starves to death, dies before age 1 or lives on $1 a day in a grimy gang-infested slum. Per capita income is $22,704 this year. But MSCI is looking at market maturity and would raise Taiwan’s level after “meaningful improvements,” per the 2014 statement. Markets are just one tool to measure development. Taiwan is still emerging in at least five other ways:

1. Building construction

It’s hard to find an apartment building more than 30 years old without unapproved, jerrybuilt “granny flats” on the roof. Illegal units total about 7,000 in Taipei. Mayors talk about getting rid of them but seldom make more than a small crack in the issue. (Imagine the population of voters without roofs.) Older buildings also allow apartment owners to build outward through their windows or onto shared balconies. For buildings without centralized management, homeowners seldom pool money to maintain the whole property, leaving gray or yellow water stains on exterior walls among other signs of decay. Some units pose structural hazards. A lot more just stun tourists who visit Taiwan expecting a different kind of culture and scenery.

2. Green space

Urban trees help ease air pollution, cool hot cities and even calm aggressive drivers. But they’re a post-modern luxury. Most of urban Taiwan is too dense for serious street trees. Buildings come right up to the curbs — on streets that have even those. Legislators fault government for improper planting along streets that are wide enough, allowing otherwise hardy trees to fall easily during typhoons. But trees cost money, the top concern for an emerging country. For every 1% increase in per capita income, demand for forest cover goes up 1.76%, according to research compiled by science writer Tim De Chant on thepersquaremile.com website.

There’s nothing Taiwan can do about typhoons, but perhaps the authorities could try to educate people about the value of trees for shade, reducing energy consumption, air quality, biodiversity and flood mitigation,” says Steven Crook, a writer on Taiwan environmental issues.

3. Law enforcement

Enforcement of most laws only follows complaints. Traffic cops who see someone double park or deny someone else the right-of-way do nothing. Code enforcement officers don’t walk about the neighborhoods looking for rampant illegal gambling or dogs barking above the legal decibel levels. They wait for complaints before investigating and follow up based on a sense of who’s morally right or wrong rather than the word of law. Taiwan’s white-collar crime suspects such as people in the companies linked last year to tainted cooking oil may get light sentences because their companies contribute heavily to the economy – and to decision makers in government.
4. Quality of life

Noise in Taiwan can be severe enough to disrupt sleep. Factory smoke, underground gas lines and other industrial spill over into people’s neighborhoods, some of which have complained over the past five years against some of Taiwan’s top manufacturers. Gas lines exploded one night in 2014 in a dense residential tract of the southern industrial city Kaohsiung and killed 32 people. Formal complaints are less common against more local quality-of-life threats such as standing water that breeds mosquitoes or remodeling noise late in the evening. Having food on the table is enough of a blessing for those old enough to remember Taiwan’s widespread poverty.

5. Stranger-to-stranger relations

Historic fear of scarce resources – poverty’s sidekick in any emerging country – can keep human relations strained and competitive. People act politely face to face, but when backs turn (or if two people have never met) so do a lot of common courtesies. Watch Taipei commuters rush madly into a sidewalk bottleneck ahead of others instead of doing the you-go-first maneuver. Ever had your clerk interrupted by the next guy in line before your transaction is finished? University students leave their packs on library tables to ensure a study space after coming back from a lunch, blocking classmates who need a place to sit. A new arrival at work will be watched for signs of an easier job or higher pay compared to colleagues and ostracized if either proves true.

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