Time to take an objective look at East Asian realities

A CERTAIN professor of dentistry at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland was, it seems, in the habit of sticking a postage stamp to the roof of his mouth before asking his students to examine and comment on the state of his teeth. He would then ask them what they could see.

Typically, they would offer answers such as "a cavity, plaque, an impacted molar", and so on. Very few, apparently, mentioned the postage stamp because that was not what they were trained to look for. People have a way of overlooking whatever they are not alerted to.

I was reminded of this recently not by a visit to the dentist but by the bizarrely business-as-usual approach of many analysts in commenting on the state of affairs in East Asia. It was as though the only thing to be concerned about were minor shifts in share prices and dividend yields.