Policy
Korea and the Kazakh Model
The fix for South Korea's birth rate isn't more cash bonuses. It's a mechanism nobody in Seoul wants to copy.
ESJul 6, 2026
Friday, July 24, 2026
The country-risk memo for people who still think geography is a choice.
3 pieces
Policy
The fix for South Korea's birth rate isn't more cash bonuses. It's a mechanism nobody in Seoul wants to copy.
Korea already ran the Manufactured Destiny playbook once. The instruments that built the miracle are the same ones strangling it now.
A mid-sized Canadian city keeps choosing not to build the thing every peer city its size already has.