The Economist (October 26)
“The euro mess has morphed from an acute crisis into a chronic one.” In contrast with the progress made on sovereign debt, however, “the euro zone has made less headway than other places in reducing this private-debt burden…. If the euro zone’s recovery is to strengthen, this burden of private debt must be lightened. According to the IMF, private debt is a bigger drag on Europe’s growth than government debt.”
Tags: Burden, Crisis, Euro zone, Europe, Government, Growth, IMF, Private-debt, Progress, Recovery, Sovereign debt
The Economist (September 14)
“More growth, not less, is the best hope for averting a sixth great extinction.” As individuals reach the middle class they start to think more seriously about protecting the environment. In rich countries, conditions “are, by and large, improving, and endangered creatures are moving away from the edge of the cliff.”
Tags: Conditions, Endangered creatures, Environment, Extinction, Growth, Hope, Middle class, Rich countries
The Economist (July 27)
“After a decade of surging growth, in which they led a global boom and then helped pull the world economy forwards in the face of the financial crisis, the emerging giants have slowed sharply.” This slowdown in emerging markets “is not the beginning of a bust. But it is a turning-point for the world economy.”
Tags: Boom, Bust, Emerging markets, Financial Crisis, Growth, Slowdown, Turning-point, World economy
Euromoney (July issue)
“June was the worst month for emerging markets since at least 2008. What about the next five years?… Growth prospects in the US and Japan are improving, just as those in the emerging markets are worsening. That is a fundamental switch to what markets have been used to.” Investors will “no longer ignore China’s lower growth rate, or the simmering political confrontations in Turkey and some other emerging markets.”
Tags: China, Confrontations, Emerging markets, Growth, Investors, Japan, Turkey, U.S.
Euromoney (July 9)
“The new Chinese government’s policy drive to deleverage the banking sector has become more apparent, and that deleveraging will continue to unfold in the next six to 12 months. In what Morgan Stanley calls its ‘super-bear scenario’, it estimates that aggressive policy tightening will reduce Chinese GDP growth to an annual rate of 5.5% in the second half of this year.” If the scenario plays out (a one in ten chance according to Morgan Stanley), it “would have major implications for global markets.”
Tags: Banking sector, China, Deleveraging, GDP, Global markets, Government, Growth, Morgan Stanley, Policy, Scenario, Super-bear
Financial Times (June 17)
“From chemicals and cement to earthmovers and flatscreen televisions, Chinese industry is awash with excess capacity that is driving down profits inside and outside the country and threatens to further destabilise China’s already shaky growth.”
Tags: Cement, Chemicals, China, Excess capacity, Growth, Industry, Profits, Televisions
Institutional Investor (May Issue)
“Investors are clamoring for sell-side research as Japanese equities lead the world in gains…. For quite a long time—decades—most of the economic and financial news out of Japan was negative. Over the past six months or so, it has been overwhelmingly positive. Stock prices are up. Real gross domestic product growth is rising. Investor interest is at its highest level in years.”
Washington Post (May 27, 2013)
The U.S. has often benefited from the dollar which serves as the global exchange currency, but this is “turning into an extravagant curse. The United States wants export-led growth. So do most other countries. Not all can succeed…. The dollar’s global role puts the United States at a special disadvantage. It’s one cause of slow U.S. growth and high joblessness.”
Tags: Dollar, Exchange currency, Exports, Growth, Joblessness, U.S.
Financial Times (May 19, 2013)
“Europe’s recent lamentable growth numbers bring home the cost of poor policy. But after years of confusion, distraction and errors, eurozone leaders are focusing on the right task, as finance ministers did in their meeting last week: to build a banking union for the euro.”
Tags: Banking union, Errors, euro, Europe, eurozone, Finance ministers, Growth, Policy
Forbes (April 23, 2013)
Is growth the root of problems like global warming? No, growth is a panacea that “must not be sold short. Growth is not just morally defensible; it is a moral imperative for achieving lasting human flourishing.” Of course, there have been cases of reckless growth. Overall, however, “hard data documents its positive impact on the things that ultimately matter: education, environmental care, physical health, political freedom, and healthy culture. Failure to realize the transformative power of growth would be a failure of our moral imaginations.”
Tags: Culture, Education, Environment, Freedom, Global warming, Growth, Health
