Forbes (March 15)
“As the Bank of Japan mulls its biggest policy pivot in roughly 25 years, no major economy may benefit more than China,” helping to counter the headwinds zooming China’s way.” Hoping to supplant the dollar as the global currency, China is hesitant to devalue its own currency. Yet, “for China, falling prices will just further undermine business and household confidence. It’s here where a rising yen could counter the headwinds zooming China’s way. And make China the real winner as the BOJ calls it quits on QE next week.”
Tags: BOJ, Business, China, Confidence, Devalue, Dollar, Falling, Global currency, Headwinds, Household, Major economy, Policy pivot, Prices, Rising yen, Undermine
The Guardian (March 18)
“The UK remains on track for a ’disastrous decade’ of stagnant incomes and high taxes, despite cuts to public services” based on recent budget analysis. The Resolution Foundation thinktank determined that, after accounting for inflation, “typical household disposable incomes were on course to be lower by the end of the forecast period in 2027-28 than they were before the pandemic.”
Tags: Analysis, Budget, Disastrous decade, Disposable incomes, Forecast, High taxes, Household, Inflation, Pandemic, Public services, Stagnant incomes, Thinktank, UK
Time (August 23)
It is shocking “that more than 65% of Japanese medical doctors who responded to a survey said reducing the entrance exam scores for women is unavoidable, since the extreme working hours make it impossible for female doctors to work full time while taking care of their children. Japanese society still sees household chores and childcare as the main responsibility of women, whether or not they are in paid employment.”
Tags: Children, Doctors, Employment, Exam, Full-time, Household, Japan, Scores, Survey, Women, Working hours
New York Times (July 1)
“There’s an anomaly in an economy that is supposedly running flat out: Many families still haven’t recovered the wealth they lost in the financial collapse…. Despite high stock prices and record home prices, household net worth since 2007 has decreased for all income groups — except the top 10 percent.”
Tags: Anomaly, Economy, Families, Financial collapse, Home prices, Household, Net worth, Stock prices, Wealth
Financial Times (August 31)
“The story of Abenomics is far from over–but the typical Japanese household could be forgiven for thinking that all the Bank of Japan had achieved, in pushing down the currency and importing inflation, was another hit to household living standards. Japanese real wages have been falling for most of this year.”
Tags: Abenomics, BOJ, Currency, Household, Inflation, Japan, Living standards, Real wages
