Chinese firms are investing abroad in projects that cost a total equal to 1% of China’s GDP. Key investments are in factories in Southeast Asia—Vietnam (low-value goods), Indonesia (minerals), Malaysia, and Thailand (EV projects)—often accompanied by importing Chinese workers. –economist.com, January 04, 2025
Author: Michael Parkin
France’s Rising Budget Deficit and Debt
France's government budget deficit is expected to exceed 6 per cent of GDP, driven by spending on military and green transition. Government debt is forecast to reach 115 per cent of GDP, and interest payments to 2.9 per cent next year. —Source: economist.com, December 7, 2024
Omnicom-Interpublic Merger: Battling Tech Giants
Omnicom and Interpublic, two advertising agencies that create, plan, and handle advertising for their clients, are considering a merger due to challenges from tech giants like Google, Meta, and Amazon, which have made ad creation easier. – economist.com, December 14, 2024
Cities With Soda Taxes Saw Sales of Sugary Drinks Fall as Prices Rose
Sales of sugary drinks fell in five U.S. cities, after they implemented taxes targeting those drinks. On average, prices for sugar-sweetened drinks went up by 33.1% and total expenditure went down by 33%. Expenditure on sugary drinks outside of these cities increased.—npr.org
U.K. and Japan Fell into Recessions at the End of Last Year
U.K. real GDP shrank by 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023 following a 0.3% fall in the quarter before. Japan also had two consecutive quarters of shrinking real GDP—3.3% in the third quarter and 0.4% in the fourth. U.S. real GDP grew 3.3% in the fourth quarter.—Investopedia, February 16, 2024. What is a recession? … Continue reading U.K. and Japan Fell into Recessions at the End of Last Year
History’s Inflation Lessons
IMF economists Anil Ari, Carlos Mulas-Granados, Lev Ratnovski, and Wei Zhao and Victor Mylonas of Tilburg University, explored 111 inflation shocks between 1973 and 2014. Use the links to read this important study. Here is a summary of what they found. Sources: Anil Ari, Lev Ratnovski, History’s Inflation Lessons, International Monetary Fund, December 2023, and … Continue reading History’s Inflation Lessons