Hong Kong’s Turning Point: Turbulence to Transformation? Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the Hong Kong government has depended on limiting the release of land parcels to drive up prices and maximize revenue, allowing it to maintain low taxes, which in turn attracts businesses, talent, and foreign investment. Branded as “Asia’s World City”, Hong Kong rose rapidly to become the widely … Continue reading Hong Kong’s Economic Turning Point
“The Economic Impact of Chinese New Year: Growth, Disruptions, and Opportunities” The Spring Festival, also known as Chinese New Year, just took place. It is not only a time of cultural celebration but a period of great economic activity in China. The impact on its economy is huge, affecting tourism, retail, manufacturing and also transportation. The Spring Festival is one of the most celebrated annual … Continue reading The Economics of Chinese New Year
Chinese military action against Taiwan seems to grow increasingly likely by the day; the US intelligence community’s latest estimate believes a potential invasion of Taiwan could occur as early as 2027. The implications of military action in Taiwan would be devastating to US national output, because Taiwan houses much of the manufacturing capacity of a company that is key to the US economy: Taiwan Semiconductor … Continue reading The TSMC and a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan
The Transition away from fossil fuels is one of the key economic driving forces of this decade. A key way for countries to wean themselves off hydrocarbons is through the replacement of internal combustion engines with electric battery powered engines. Electric Vehicles (including plug in hybrids) have seen a surge in production over the last few years. China is at the forefront of this global … Continue reading The Rise in China’s EV Production
Overview China’s economic boom over the last three decades has been well documented; its gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average rate of 9% annually between 1989 and 2022 and is forecasted to overtake the American economy by 2035 according to Goldman Sachs. But economists frequently overlook a major vulnerability of the Chinese economy: its fragile real-estate industry. For decades, China’s economy has been … Continue reading Boom to Bust: The Implications of China’s Real-Estate Crisis
“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. Those were the words of John F Kennedy in 1962 at the dawn of the Space Race. In the previous year, the USSR had shocked the world by sending the first man into space. Uncle Sam was worried that his dominance was being … Continue reading The Second Space Race
June’s Chart of the Month highlights the stagnation in China’s manufacturing output after the pandemic. When China unexpectedly reopened at the beginning of 2023, many analysts expected an immense recovery. However, their forecasts have been disproven, particularly regarding China’s manufacturing activity, which has fallen after a slight increase (an index score below 50 indicates a contraction). This is not because of a stunted reopening, but a … Continue reading Chart of the Month – June 2023
Tencent is not only the world’s largest game company; it also controls large shares of important markets in China such as music, social media, and films. Since April 2021, Tencent’s stock has seen a slow downward trend, falling from its highest closing price of HKD 757.00 on 14/2/2021 to HKD 266.40 as of 9/30/2022. This has been driven by anti-monopoly laws recently published by China, … Continue reading Tencent: The King of Video Games
Today, China is an economic powerhouse with the second highest nominal GDP (after the USA) and the highest GDP PPP (when GDP is adjusted for prices in a country) in the world. Yet just over 40 years ago, in 1981, it had a nominal GDP lower than that of Canada, a country that had a population 40 times smaller than it. The nominal GDP per … Continue reading Chinese Economic Growth, Against All Odds
Often hailed as the most influential economist ever, Keynes regularly imparted wisdom that shook the foundations of modern economics. His off-hand remarks are now cemented in history, and he is frequently quoted by modern economists and journalists. One of the issues he was very passionate about was the necessity of free trade amongst countries, even going as far as calling protectionism (the opposite of free … Continue reading Trade Wars: Explained
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