The Economist Asia - 03.02.2018

The EconomistFebruary 3rd 2018 17

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More public scrutiny, please

The collapse of Carillion raises
questions about how Britain
can get better at contracting
public services to the private
sector (“Cleaned out”, January
20th). The scramble across
government to understand its
exposure to the company
shows that Britain needs much
better data that is open to the
public on the full procurement
process, from the planning of
contracts to their fulfilment.
The existing data are sur-
prisingly poor. An analysis of
publicly available information
by my organisation and by
Open Opps, an open-data
startup, found deals with 208
buyers across the public sector
since 2011. But we could only
confirm the details of less than
half of the 450 contracts report-
ed by the government. Com-
pare that with other countries,
where a single register of con-
tracts exists and the exposure
and diversity of public markets
can be monitored in real time.
There is strong evidence that
open data and contract regis-
ters are great for encouraging
smaller firms to put in bids.
GAVIN HAYMAN
Executive director
Open Contracting Partnership
London

The donkey market

China’sejiaoindustry, which
uses a gelatine taken from
donkey skins in traditional
medicines, is putting the don-
key populations of other coun-
tries at risk, too (“Tusks, skins
and waste recycling”, January
6th). Demand for their skin has
led to a dramatic fall in the
number of donkeys in India,
Kyrgyzstan, Botswana and
Mongolia. The ejiaoindustry is
puttingsubstantial financial

resources into the develop-

ment of donkey-breeding

farms in China so that it

doesn’t have to rely on middle-

men scouring the earth for raw

materials. However, donkeys

breed at a pace not conducive

to neither speed (12-month

gestation) nor efficiency (high

levels of miscarriages when

bred intensively).

Until these hurdles are

overcome, if they ever can be,

then the vast majority of the

4.8m donkeysslaughtered

each year for the production of

ejiaowill continue to be

sourced from countries where

they provide a sustainable

living for millions of vulner-

able communities and fam-

ilies. As the initial supply of

readily available or “spare”

donkeys diminishes, so too the

instances and threat of donkey

theft increase.

Prices for donkeys have

rocketed, up by 300% in Kenya

alone last year, reflecting an

unrelenting demand. China is

in effect aiding an overseas

industry that is already making

extraordinary profits by cut-

ting the import duty on don-

key skin. This helping hand

from China will result in even

more poaching and slaughter

of an animal that supports and

sustains some of the world’s

poorest people.

MIKE BAKER

Chief executive officer

Donkey Sanctuary

Sidmouth, Devon

A smart phone policy

You are far too blasé about the

benefits of restricting

teenagers’ use of mobile

phones (“Teens and screens”,

January 13th). I teach at a one-

year boarding school for 10th-

graders. The students are by

definition “out of the house”,

away from their parents. They

are with other children all the

time since they share bed-

rooms. This year we brought in

a policy that bans mobile

phones before 6pm and

severely restricts them there-

after. It was introduced after

last year’s cohort were asked

what could have improved

their stay at the school, and has

proved to be very popular.

This year’s students say they

are happier and less stressed

because of it, and have rejected

calls to have it eased. In a

nutshell, restriction works.

That still leaves computer

screens and what to do about

them. But, hey, Rome wasn’t

built in a day.

WALTER BLOTSCHER

Haarby, Denmark

Not-so-strict constructionists

The assessment in “Full-court

press” (January 13th) that

Republicans favour originalist

and textualist judges—as

opposed to the activist kind—is

largely correct, but that has not

always been the case. An

activist constitutionalist phi-

losophy is not necessarily

married to a particular politi-

cal ideology. In a series of cases

typified byLochner v New York

in 1905, which held that limits

on working hours were uncon-

stitutional, a constitutionally

activist, butpolitically conser-

vative, Supreme Court aban-

doned textual and original

meaning in order to strike

down progressive economic

regulations. This was based on

an unwritten principle of

“freedom of contract”. Activist

rulings resulting in liberal

political outcomes, and, con-

versely, deferential rulings

favouring conservative poli-

cies, are based on recent politi-

cal alignments. The opposite

formula has held in the past.

ULYSSES PAMEL

Montreal

Creative ad destruction

A central assumption in

Schumpeter’s back-of-the-

envelope calculation in order

for American advertising

revenues to reach 1.8% ofGDP

(January 20th) is that all ad-

vertising firms will achieve the

growth rates implicit in their

valuations. This is unlikely, as

Schumpeterian forces have

proven again and again. Surely

many firms will not succeed in

the long run and only a select

few will live up to their pro-

mise. But then, isn’t selling

plausible, rather than prob-

able, promises what advertis-

ing is all about?

MANUEL NAVAS

Bogotá

An aid for hearing

Your Technology Quarterly on

brain-computer interfaces

mentioned that cochlear

implants “convert sound into

electrical signals and send

them into the brain” (January

6th). Not quite. It isthe cochle-

ar-implant’s processor, an

external self-contained device,

that converts sound to electri-

cal signals which it transmits

by induction through the skin

of the skull to the implant,

which then feeds the signals to

the auditory nerves.

My wife’s processor is held

to her head by a magnet which

is glued to her skull beneath

her skin. She does not wear the

processor at night, which has a

side benefit. Without it she

cannot hear me snore.

RICHARD WEXELBLAT

West Brandywine, Pennsylvania

Scots are more studious

It is perhaps emblematic that

David Willetts’s “A University

Education” considersonly the

state of English colleges in

Britain (“Three years and

score”, January 6th). You noted

his observation thatEngland

gained its third university only

in 1829. By this time, however,

there were already four univer-

sities in much less populous

Scotland: St Andrews (1410),

Glasgow (1451), Aberdeen

(1495) and Edinburgh (1582).

Ireland, then a part of the

United Kingdom, had Trinity

College (1592).

Scottish universities had

much to be said for them. In

1746, when Adam Smith left

my old college, Balliol, to

return to Scotland, he is reput-

ed to have said that it was to

pursue “less drinking and

more thinking”.

KEVIN HOOVER

Professor of economics and

philosophy

Duke University

Durham, North Carolina 7

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