Are fears of Chinese inflation exaggerated?
5 Jan 2011 [1 Comment | 344 views]
When food prices go up in China, social unrest builds. It has been argued elsewhere that it was food inflation that led to the rise of Mao, and was also occurring at the time of the Tiananmen Square atrocities. China’s central bank is set to up rates, they say, and the Chinese bubble will be [...]
The world’s most populous country is running out of workers – what are the implications?
16 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 571 views]
China is running out of workers. Around 60 per cent of China’s workforce, or 469 million people, are known as rural. But it seems that a big chunk of these people – around 145 million – spent at least six months away from home last year, presumably working in towns and cities. It is thought [...]
China’s bubble inflates that little bit more
13 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 554 views]
Two bits of news have come out of China over the last few days. Inflation is up, leaving many to forecast hikes in interest rates, which in turn, or so they argue, will lead to the crash in asset prices so many have been predicting. If the Chinese economy is a bubble, then it seems [...]
US and China circle each other like sharks preparing to strike
7 Dec 2010 [3 Comments | 1,066 views]
The burgeoning row between China and the US is like a Great White shark circling off the coast, and the authorities are just about as inept as the mayor of Amity Island who tried to reassure everyone that the waters were safe. Steven Spielberg may have shown remarkable prescience with his famous 1975 film, apparently [...]
UK sees exports to China lag behind David Cameron’s Chinese pontificating
10 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 475 views]
The latest trade figures for the UK and China were out this morning. Maybe we should be grateful for small mercies, for while the two sets of figures point to quite horrendous imbalances, at least they are both changing in the right direction. The UK’s deficit on trade in goods and services was £4.6 billion [...]
West needs to save more: emerging world needs to spend more, says OECD
4 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 294 views]
Must try harder. Did you ever get that comment in a report when you were at school? The author didn’t. His reports typically said: what a delightful pupil. But yesterday, praise was in short supply, red ink was everywhere, and there were lots of “see me” comments. The OECD was looking at efforts in the [...]
China and India see new surge, as consumers take up the baton
1 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 314 views]
The latest purchasing managers indices (PMIs) relating to China, India and other economies in the Far East were released this morning. The reports were good and bad. But, for our money, some really good news lurks within the depths of the latest survey from China. Bear in mind that for a PMI, any score over [...]
Wen Jiabao, oranges, lemons and political mandarins
29 Oct 2010 [3 Comments | 477 views]
Right now there is some interesting stuff going on in China. Premier Wen Jiabao has called for greater political reform. Meanwhile, the People’s Daily, the most influential newspaper in China, has slammed the idea of Western-style multi-party democracy ever taking root in the world’s most populous country. In other words, right now we are seeing [...]
China graduates from copycat to innovator, as she builds fastest computer in world
29 Oct 2010 [5 Comments | 931 views]
The Great Bubble of China theory says that China’s growth is reliant on importing ideas from abroad. The same theory goes that China’s growth is not sustainable and she is months away from descending into a Japanese-style economic myopia. At the other extreme you get paranoia, that China is set to take over the global [...]
Chinese GDP slows, inflation limps, and yet interest rates have gone up: why?
21 Oct 2010 [1 Comment | 350 views]
Now this is a tad strange. Data came in from China this morning on its latest growth and inflation. Given that the country’s central bank upped rates early in the week, you would have expected some impressive figures, suggesting a danger that the economy is overheating. In reality, the complete opposite was the case. So [...]
