China: ‘Important Information’ vs. Information that Is Important
BEIJING | By Yang Hengjun via Caixin | Leaders in China should beware of reports and views that are sanitized so as not to offend because they will lead to distorted decision-making.
China
China’s growing private sector
By Richard N. Cooper via Caixin | There is a widespread impression both inside China and out that after the vigorous economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, moving away from central planning and state control to greater emphasis on markets, the reform process stopped, or even reversed, during the 2002-2012 period. This view was perhaps reinforced by the emphasis in the third plenum of the Communist Party’s 18th Central Committee in November 2013 on the need to move further toward less guidance from the state and greater reliance on market prices to allocate resources.
China builds in Africa, but the foundations are shallow
BEIJING | By Zhou Xin | The positive side of Chinese involvement in Africa is well-known, but a lack of shared values means projects are inefficient and lack vision.
For China’s property market, all is not lost
BEIJING | By Liu Ligang via Caixin | Pessimistic voices are saying China’s property market is nearing a Japan-style collapse of the late 1980s, but this ignores the fact urbanization will continue to create demand for homes.
“Globalisation is Southern Europe’s source of agony”
MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | Trying to compete with emerging markets is not enough: Those EU countries trying to re-launch their industrial sectors in order to boost economic recovery need to go through technological changes, Yao Yang explains to The Corner. Dean of the China National School of Development and Director of the China Center for Economic Research, he believes that austerity in Europe has not been in vain. On the same day, business-research group Conference Board reported that Chinese growth will dip to 5.5% in 2015-19, Prof. Yang points out that such a decline would not mean any catastrophe.
China’s Challenge: Growing the Market, Limiting the State
BEIJING | By James A. Dorn via Caixin | In his new book Markets over Mao: The Rise of Private Business in China, Nicholas R. Lardy, one of the world’s leading China experts and a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, makes a strong case that the market, not the state, has been the key factor in the country’s remarkable rise. In 1978, Beijing began to loosen its grip on economic life and paramount leader Deng Xiaoping recognized the failure of central planning as a development model. Today China is the world’s second-largest economy, and the range of choices open to consumers has greatly expanded under economic liberalization and trade.
Inflation in China falls further amid lower commodity prices
HONG KONG | From Barclays analysts | China inflation fell further in September, to 1.6%, below consensus (1.7%), but in line with our forecast. The key downside drivers were lower commodity prices, and declining food inflation. Inflation has now fallen to its lowest levels since January 2010, a 56-month low.
China: The complexities of the state-industrial complex
BEIJING | By Chen Changhua via Caixin | Efforts to introduce a genuine mixed-share ownership structure to state-owned enterprises in China have been obstructed by organizational conflicts of interest
Spoilt Chinese SOEs need to move forward
Out-dated, inefficient and malfunctioning are some of the adjectives normally used to refer to Chinese SOEs. Their unhealthy financial situation poses a great threat to the future growth of the world’s second biggest economy. The Communist Party is pushing for a fresh set of reforms to make them able to compete globally. For decades, these companies knew little about competition or innovation, until today.
China PMI fails to inspire
LONDON | By Christian Keller at Barclays | China’s official manufacturing PMI was flat at 51.1in September, slightly below Barclays’ forecast (51.3), but marginally above consensus of 51.0. The data reaffirmed the trend of improving external demand, but soft domestic demand. The China PMI data had a limited market impact, with local markets closed for National Day while AUD fell following the weak sales outcome.