BEIJING | By Liu Shengjun via Caixin | When China’s premier Li Keqiang recently met six experts to talk about reforms, he quizzed them on their data and bemoaned slow progress in changing local governments.
MADRID | The Corner | The world’s second economy is entering an enthusiastic summer period, with credit lending indicators rising in June. New loans denominated in yuan grew up by 1.08 bn CNY in China, aggregate financing went up by 1.97 bn CNY and the M2 monetary offer, in 14.7% year on year in June. All these data exceeded market expectations and show that the authorities are favoring the expansion of credit to boost growth.
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | This can be inferred from a speech by Rintaro Tamaki, Deputy Secretary-General and acting Chief Economist of the OECD, who for 35 years worked for Japan´s Ministry of Finance: “The chief economist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Rintaro Tamaki, recently gave a talk that should be heard by all Japanese economists and policy makers. He observed that the aim of Japanese economic policy is still mainly about strengthening growth.”
By Jean Pisani Ferry via Caixin | Investment in many advanced and emerging economies is down – except in China – but governments around the world can take steps to improve the situation.
MADRID | By Álex García.
SHANGHAI | Op-ed by Hong Hao at Caixin | Relaxing restrictions on property purchases, reintroducing discount mortgages or even further monetary easing are likely, given the importance of the property sector in the economy and its multiplier effects. No one is willing to be held responsible for an ugly crash in China. This is one certainty among the many uncertainties that the market is facing. But nor is anyone willing to inflate the property bubble further.
MADRID | The Corner | New York-based British comedian John Oliver, well known for his hilarious parodies of economic issues (if you haven’t seen his Dodd Frank Act impersonation, you definitely should- sorry for the poor quality of this video), has digged in US growing wealth gap and why it may be a problem in the future. Indeed, income flows are becoming increasingly unequal and that’s undermining growth.
MADRID | By The Corner | Yet again this year equities have moved higher despite negative EPS revisions. While JPMorgan started the year with a constructive outlook on equity markets, they believed that for the 4th year in a row IBES projections would need to be downgraded. The investor concern now is that negative revisions could continue into H2, similar to the trend observed in Europe in each of the last three years.
LONDON| By UBS analysts | Mexico is the eleventh largest country in the world by population. Yet, when it comes to energy infrastructure and consumption per capita, it ranks poorly especially compared to developed, western regions. The energy policy recently introduced provides a major capex opportunity: about €100bn over the coming ten years. Estimates for EU utilities reach investments of €18bn, which would allow for a potential net income increase of €1.1bn. In this context, most of the companies eyeing the region are from Southern Europe, with Enel and Iberdrola remaining as the sector top picks.
WASHINTON, DC via Next New Deal | By Harry Stein | Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz takes a hard look at subsidies for investment income. He advocates taxing capital gains and dividends at the same rates as ordinary income. Under current law, the federal government will deliver an estimated $1.34 trillion in subsidies to investors over the next 10 years in the form of reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends. Sixty-eight percent of that money will go to the top 1 percent. Stiglitz argues that there is “no justification for taxing those who work hard to earn a living at a higher rate than those who derive their income from speculation.”