Institutional Investor (November Issue)
“After three decades of breakneck economic growth, China is cleaning up its act. Lately, Beijing has been rolling out a raft of environmental regulations, chief among them June’s announcement of ten measures to improve urban air quality, including a target to reduce emissions from highly polluting industries by 30 percent within four years.”
Tags: Air quality, Beijing, China, Economic growth, Emissions, Environmental regulations, Highly polluting industries, Urban
Wall Street Journal (October 2)
The rise in Japan’s consumption tax is an unwelcome return to the old “tax and spend” playbook. Of the estimated $88 billion in revenue, over $50 billion is marked for spending as stimulus. “More rapid and durable economic growth is the only escape from Japan’s self-constructed fiscal trap. Mr. Abe still has a chance to rescue his economic program with a new reform plan, the long-awaited ‘third arrow.’ But with his tax increase he is creating another headwind to overcome.”
Tags: Abe, Consumption tax, Economic growth, Fiscal trap, Headwind, Japan, Reform, Revenue, Stimulus, Tax and spend, Tax increase, Third arrow
Euromoney (July issue)
“Market share of financial businesses vital to supporting global economic growth is concentrating rapidly into the hands of a small group of the world’s biggest banks.” During the first half of 2013, the top 10 banks commanded 56% of all investment banking fees. This “does not look a particularly welcome development, increasing as it does, the dependence of corporations, governments, large investors and other banks on just a few providers and along with it the exposure of the global financial system to risk of failure at any of these top 10.”
Tags: Banks, Economic growth, Exposure, Fees, Global financial system, Investment banking, Investors, Market share, Risk
Los Angeles Times (July 8)Los Angeles Times (July 8)
“Life expectancy is 5.5 years lower in northern China than in the south because of heavy air pollution, a study examining 20 years of data concludes…. The specificity of the study published Monday may provide a jolt to policymakers and the public as debate intensifies over how much China has sacrificed to achieve rapid economic growth.” Due to a tradition of coal burning, suspended particulate matter north of the Huai River was on average 55% higher than in the south, lowering life expectancy for those in the north where the researches estimate that in the 1990s alone, the half billion residents “collectively lost 2.5 billion years from their lives.”“Life expectancy is 5.5 years lower in northern China than in the south because of heavy air pollution, a study examining 20 years of data concludes…. The specificity of the study published Monday may provide a jolt to policymakers and the public as debate intensifies over how much China has sacrificed to achieve rapid economic growth.” Due to a tradition of coal burning, suspended particulate matter north of the Huai River was on average 55% higher than in the south, lowering life expectancy for those in the north where the researches estimate that in the 1990s alone, the half billion residents “collectively lost 2.5 billion years from their lives.”
Tags: China, Coal burning, Economic growth, Huai River, Life expectancy, Particulate matter, Policymakers, Pollution, Sacrificed
Washington Post (June 26)
Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani oversaw Qatar’s rapid economic growth. He came to power 18 years ago after staging a coup against his very own father. “Now the 61-year-old emir has completed another surprising initiative by handing power to his 33-year-old son.” This change “opens the way for adjustments in Qatar’s foreign policies and in the rigid autocracy that still reigns over the skyscrapers and luxury hotels of Doha.” Only time will tell if reform ensues.
Tags: Autocracy, Coup, Doha, Economic growth, Foreign policy, Luxury hotels, Qatar, Reform, Skyscrapers
Financial Times (June 24)
“It is too early to say, but with the credit intensity of China’s slowing economic growth surging back this year to levels last seen in the 2009 credit boom, a severe credit squeeze could precipitate a big drop in investment, accentuate the downturn in growth and lead to financial and banking sector instability.”
Tags: Banking, Boom, China, Credit, Downturn, Economic growth, Instability, Investment, Squeeze
Financial Times (May 7, 2013)
“Pollution in China is now so bad that it threatens to obscure the vision being laid out by Xi Jinping, the new president…. The leadership needs to rethink its national goals. After all, what is the point of rapid economic growth if it creates cities in which it is dangerous to breathe?”
Tags: Air quality, China, Cities, Economic growth, Goals, Pollution, Xi Jinping
New York Times (April 28, 2013)
“At first glance, the latest economic growth report, released Friday, appears to show the economy revving up. In reality, the economy is either stuck in low gear, or worse, slowing to a stop as budget cuts harm not only the users of overstretched government services but the overall economy. This precarious situation urgently calls for more federal spending, not less.”
The Economist (December 22)
Freer trade is a no-cost measure that the U.S., Japan and Europe can take to boost otherwise weak forecasts of economic growth. “The gains to be had from sluggish rich countries opening their borders to each other’s goods and services look enticing. The world is less integrated than most people realise.” A TPP deal alone “could raise the region’s GDP by more than 1%” and there are two other major trade pacts (an EU/U.S. transatlantic pact and an EU services agreement) with strong potential. “Now is the time to act.”
Tags: Economic growth, Europe, Free trade, Japan, TDP, TPP, U.S.
Economist (June 23)
On July 1, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) turns 90. Despite this milestone, the CCP’s future looks uncertain. “The inevitable slowing in economic growth,” will strain relations between the middle-class and the CCP. Moreover, “tensions between China’s prosperous middle classes and its poor will make it a harder country to govern.” The CCP may feel forced to repress an increasingly restive middle class, further worsening relations. “In other Asian countries a taste for democracy has risen with income; and repression would mean withdrawing freedoms from people used to their liberty gradually increasing.” The CCP is in for a bumpy ride. The next 90 are far from assured.
Tags: CCP, China, Economic growth, Middle class, Tension
