Big Take Asia

We’re taking The Big Take to Asia. Each week, Bloomberg’s Oanh Ha tells a story from the home of the world's most dynamic economies - and the markets, tycoons and businesses that drive the ever-shifting region.

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Recent Episodes

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China’s Crackdowns Are Crushing the Dreams of a Generation Wednesday, September 18, 2024

China’s drive to upgrade its struggling economy has left millions of people facing job losses or pay cuts, fueling an existential crisis among some of its best and brightest workers. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha tal

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Indonesia Is Building a New Capital. It’s Not Going Well Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Indonesia has embarked on an ambitious project to build a new capital city from scratch because Jakarta is overcrowded, polluted and sinking, fast. But the multibillion dollar new city, Nusantara, was plagued with problems from the very start. O

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Carry Trades, Explained Tuesday, September 3, 2024

They caused global markets to seize up – and raised serious questions about just how much money was at stake. No, we’re not talking about Nvidia’s earnings. Or the US jobs report. We’re talking about carry trades – an obscure

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Humans and AI Bots Blur in the World's Call Center Capital Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Call centers in the Philippines, the world’s second-biggest outsourcing center after India, are embracing artificial intelligence - and it’s radically changing what it looks and sounds like to work there. On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, h

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Inside Southeast Asia’s Most Notorious Crime Hub Monday, August 19, 2024

A Chinese businessman persuaded officials to establish a special economic zone in a remote part of Laos. The gamblers arrived first. Then came the drug runners, human traffickers and scammers.On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha sp

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After a Deadly Student Uprising, Bangladesh Starts Over, Again Tuesday, August 13, 2024

After weeks of protests and a brutal crackdown that led to several hundred deaths, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to step down and flee the country, putting an abrupt end to her more than 15 years in power. Stepping into the leade

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$200 Billion, Four Heirs And One Mighty Indian Empire Sunday, August 4, 2024

Gautam Adani, the controversial Indian billionaire, gathered his two sons and two nephews for a family lunch one day and asked them a bombshell question: Did they want to carve up the Adani Group’s sprawling businesses between themselves and part ways?

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Japan’s Small Businesses Have a Problem. They Don’t Know How to Raise Prices Monday, July 29, 2024

Costs are rising in Japan and small businesses risk being squeezed into oblivion if they don’t figure out how to raise their prices. After decades of deflation, many small Japanese companies are out of practice on exactly how to do it. Today on

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K-Pop's Big Bet on Becoming Less Korean Tuesday, July 23, 2024

Is K-pop even K-pop without the K? A Bloomberg analysis of song lyrics shows that for the first time, almost half of K-pop songs released this year have majority English lyrics. On today’s podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks with

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Why This Nobel Prize Winner Faces Life Imprisonment in Bangladesh Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus pioneered micro loans as a tool to fight poverty. Now prosecutors in Bangladesh have linked him and his colleagues to a dizzying number of crimes, including embezzlement and laundering millions of doll

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The Chinese Coffee Chain Beating Starbucks Tuesday, July 9, 2024

China’s Luckin Coffee is the nation’s top coffee retailer, overtaking even Starbucks. That would be notable itself, but less than 4 years ago the company filed for bankruptcy, making its comeback even more unlikely. The turnaround is in part thanks to

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Why China’s Investment Bankers Are Breaking Up With Capitalism Tuesday, July 2, 2024

One after another, bankers at China International Capital Corporation — China’s premier investment bank – are pledging loyalty to the Communist Party, underscoring a new reality for Wall Street-style capitalists in the era of Xi Jinping.Today o

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Hong Kong: Five Years After Anti-China Protests Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Four years after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city, Hong Kong continues to serve as an important financial hub connecting mainland China with the rest of the world. But beneath the surface, the consequences of the crackdown are far-re

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The Dirty, Deadly Price We Pay for Clean Cars Monday, June 17, 2024

Indonesia’s nickel business is booming. The metal is a key component in electric car batteries, but its success has a dark side: the country’s nickel mines and processing plants have a history of fatal accidents, with workers being run over by forklift

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A New Breed of Scammer Is Targeting Asia's Ultra-Rich Tuesday, June 11, 2024

Reports of alleged imposters are cropping up more and more in the family office frenzy in Singapore and Hong Kong. The ultra wealthy use family offices to manage their finances and affairs. Today on The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with

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A Stunning Election Result in India as Modi and BJP Fall Short Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party lost its majority in India’s parliament. The stunning blow is forcing Modi to rely on allies to form a government for the first time since he stormed to power a decade ago. On today’s episode of The Big Tak

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Will the World’s Biggest Nuclear Power Plant Get a Restart? Tuesday, May 28, 2024

All of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors were shut down after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. As the country's energy needs soar, debate is heating up over whether to bring the world’s largest nuclear plant back online. On today’s episode of The

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What Does China’s Economic Slowdown Mean For the Communist Party? Tuesday, May 21, 2024

After four decades of unparalleled gains in income and wealth, China’s 1.4 billion have been hit by a series of blows: a real estate collapse, a trade war with the US, and a crackdown on entrepreneurs have stalled the country’s prosperity engine. <

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The Rise of Modi, Part 2: How India’s Leader Came Back From the Brink Tuesday, May 14, 2024

In 2002, Narendra Modi was facing the biggest political crisis of his career. But in the aftermath of riots that left more than 1,000 people dead – most of them Muslims – he saw an opportunity to turn his fortunes around. He would go on to become one o

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The Rise of Modi, Part 1: Why India’s Leader Is So Popular – and Polarizing Tuesday, May 14, 2024

Narendra Modi is arguably the world’s most popular politician. With nearly 1 billion Indians eligible to vote in a six-week election that concludes on June 4, Modi and his party are expected to win a majority for the third time in a row and extend thei