Weeks 1 and 2

After the first week back from holiday, we started a new term of study. Having studied insight through data in the previous term, this year we are learning how to use and present data ethically and how to apply what we have learnt to real life situations. This will help us to understand the process of using data in real life and to collect and use data in a way that we can understand.

The second week was spent on intensive days, last semester we studied inequality and intolerance; this semester we focused on inclusion and equality. Our group focused on the devolution of power from the party government to the community, how to involve people in the community in policy making and how to ensure that the policies made by the government are truly accountable to local people. The talk used music and concerts to help young people and those with less education and access to social tools like WhatsApp and instergram to understand that local governments and communities need people to be involved in the policy making process. This is a novel example and idea, on the one hand catering to young people using their language to spread the word and generate interest in participating in community policy making, and on the other hand ensuring that those on the margins of society have the opportunity to learn about relevant policies and speak out for their own rights. But there is no way to guarantee the effectiveness of song dissemination. My view on decentralisation is as follows: the main issue at hand is how to help people in the community to have more confidence in the government, to believe that they can have the opportunity to change the system and to participate voluntarily in policy making; in addition to this, it is also crucial to ensure that the government actually serves the people in need and makes policies that are responsible for ensuring the effectiveness of the policies.

For my dissertation, I wanted to understand the impact of tax avoidance on inequality in e-commerce platforms in the context of the digital economy and how tax policies should be developed to mitigate this inequality. After taking intensive in the second week, I have a new understanding of the impact of taxation on inequality. VAT is the number one tax in China and e-commerce platforms generally avoid tax by manipulating VAT (link:https://www.adb.org/publications/taxation-digital-economy-peoples-republic-china). Next I need to learn more about I need to learn more about VAT and how e-commerce platforms manipulate it in order to identify tax formulation loopholes. Further research, reading and reflection is needed on more detailed issues.

Weeks 1 and 2 / Knowledge Integration and Project Planning: Data, Inequality and Society (2022-2023) by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0