In the Asia Times there is an article about the tricks China has begun to use to conceal the truth about its foreign currency position. Up until December, China released the two figures corresponding to foreign currency reserves, that of the Central Bank and that of the banking sector (which let’s not forget is state-owned).
BoAML Research | One reason the Federal Reserve has been so dovish recently has been a lack of conviction in wage and price inflation. Fed Chair Janet Yellen ’ s speech earlier this week confirmed that she is not convinced that the recent rise in core inflation would “ prove durable ” and stated that more adverse -than -expected foreign developments could slow the pace of labor market improvement, and with it, “ growth in both wages and prices.
Caixin | Creating a new problem to address an old one may trim the real estate glut in the short term, but it will cause headaches for the economy in the long run.
James Alexander via Historinhas | Hamlet without the Prince would not be a very good play. Janet Yellen’s March 29th speech features a world economy without the Fed. It’s not a very good description of the world economy.
In economic theory, “one person’s spending is another person’s income,” which drives aggregate demand in the economy. Often, this cycle breaks due to flawed economic policymaking that ends in economic crisis.
AXA IM | International trade volume1 is not expanding as fast as before the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The average annual growth rate in international rate volumes almost halved to 2.4% in 2009-2015 from 5.1% in 2001-2008. For the first time in over four decades, international trade is growing less than world real GDP (the latter recorded at 4.2% in 2001-2008 and 3.3% in 2009-2015).
The orthodox models in use until 2008 did not include financial problems. It was assumed that everyone was responsible for their financial position. But in reality, nobody is aware of all the risks when they freely choose to put their savings in one asset or another, in one bank or other…it’s impossible to cover all the risks.
It’s not the slowdown or the devaluation of the yuan which is really worrying, but China’s reforms. Economic reform, which should lead to a free market. And political reform which, unfortunately for the Chinese people, will be some time coming.
The big hope of political self-starters like Donald Trump are those voters without a university education, once members of the US middle-class, who accounted for 36% of the electorate in the last elections.
Guntram B. Wolff via Caixin | G-20 ministers in Shanghai appeared to be aware of the importance of structural work. In particular, there was agreement in our panel discussions that the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project of the OECD was an essential element to deal with tax avoidance and ensure that profits are taxed where economic activity generating it takes place.