Mike Bird is The Economist’s Asia Business and Finance Editor. He reveals the world’s economies through the unexpected lens of land. From colonial Singapore to modern Asia, he traces how ownership, policy, and finance collide to shape wealth, inequality, and opportunity.
Based in Singapore, Mike Bird is an award-winning financial journalist and author. His latest book, The Land Trap, explores how land — the world’s oldest and most enduring asset — has shaped economies, driven inequality, and influenced financial systems across Asia and beyond. Drawing on centuries of history, Bird explains why land remains central to prosperity and risk, from colonial-era port cities like Singapore and Hong Kong to the dynamics of modern Chinese housing markets.
Since 2021, Bird has been the Asia Business and Finance Editor at The Economist, covering corporate dramas, economic development and capital flows across the region. A leading thinker on supply chain disruption in the region, he has investigated the rise of “Altasia” – the alternatives for global manufacturers expanding their operations beyond China. In response to political pressure and rising Chinese wages, international corporations increasingly look for greater footholds in the area stretching from northern Japan to India.
Bird regularly writes the paper’s Buttonwood column on financial markets and co-presents one of The Economist’s weekly podcasts,Money Talks. The popular show discusses the biggest stories in financial markets. It features interviews with the likes of Nobel Prize winning economist Claudia Goldin, Michael Lewis and Carmen Reinhart.
Before his time at The Economist, Bird worked for the Wall Street Journalas a reporter and columnist in London and Hong Kong, covering everything from suspected leaks of the UK’s sensitive economic statistics to the Hong Kong protests. He won the 2016 Harold Wincott Award for young financial journalist of the year and shared a Human Rights Press Award with colleagues for their coverage of the protest movement in Hong Kong during 2020.
Mike Bird speaks on finance, economics, geopolitics, and the critical role of land in shaping economic development. His recent cover stories include global demographics, US–China decoupling, Asian financial integration, and the economic rise of Indonesia.
Mike Bird
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Based in Singapore, Mike Bird is an award-winning financial journalist and author. His latest book, The Land Trap, explores how land — the world’s oldest and most enduring asset — has shaped economies, driven inequality, and influenced financial systems across Asia and beyond. Drawing on centuries of history, Bird explains why land remains central to prosperity and risk, from colonial-era port cities like Singapore and Hong Kong to the dynamics of modern Chinese housing markets.
Since 2021, Bird has been the Asia Business and Finance Editor at The Economist, covering corporate dramas, economic development and capital flows across the region. A leading thinker on supply chain disruption in the region, he has investigated the rise of “Altasia” – the alternatives for global manufacturers expanding their operations beyond China. In response to political pressure and rising Chinese wages, international corporations increasingly look for greater footholds in the area stretching from northern Japan to India.
Bird regularly writes the paper’s Buttonwood column on financial markets and co-presents one of The Economist’s weekly podcasts, Money Talks. The popular show discusses the biggest stories in financial markets. It features interviews with the likes of Nobel Prize winning economist Claudia Goldin, Michael Lewis and Carmen Reinhart.
Before his time at The Economist, Bird worked for the Wall Street Journal as a reporter and columnist in London and Hong Kong, covering everything from suspected leaks of the UK’s sensitive economic statistics to the Hong Kong protests. He won the 2016 Harold Wincott Award for young financial journalist of the year and shared a Human Rights Press Award with colleagues for their coverage of the protest movement in Hong Kong during 2020.
Mike Bird speaks on finance, economics, geopolitics, and the critical role of land in shaping economic development. His recent cover stories include global demographics, US–China decoupling, Asian financial integration, and the economic rise of Indonesia.
Books
The Land Trap
A New History of the World's Oldest Asset
Articles & Videos
The Heart of Japan's Financial Revolution
Bird talks about the factors behind Japan's stock market boom in July 2023
Is Industrial Policy Effective?
In a debate with Noah Smith, Bird questions the effectiveness of industrial policy
What’s on Mike Bird’s Radar
Telum Media webinar
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