Author: Awareness News

The People’s Republic of China, with its 1.4 billion population, is the most populous nation on earth, boasting the 2^ndhighest economy in nominal terms.  Being considered one of the largest economic miracles in recent history, – with sustained growth levels above 5% since 1990 up until 2020 – millions of Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty following the country’s embrace of international trade and investment. Nevertheless, ever since the beginning of the COVID outbreaks, China has struggled to maintain its historic impressive figures. While its zero Covid policy has certainly pressed the brakes on economic activity, through mandatory lockdowns and business shutdowns, a series of deeper and more serious problems – from a faulting real estate market to government overspending – have recently started to showcase the cracks on the country´s economy.

A brief recent history of China’s economy

For a large part of recent history, particularly between the 14^th and 18^th century, China is believed to have been responsible for one of the largest shares of economic activity worldwide. While it experienced a heavy economic decline in the subsequent period, it was during the 1970s that its share on global output began to rise once again. Following the end of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Four Modernizations were adopted to kick start the nation´s production sectors, with a special focus on agriculture, industry, defense, and science. This program heavily moved away from the “iron rice bowl”, or “work for life”, previously in place, and embraced a meritocratic system where workers and managers were rewarded if they hit or exceeded their targets. 

In the 1980s, China implemented Special Economic Zones in its southeastern region, creating pockets free to trade internationally and receive direct foreign investment without Beijing’s direct control, in a bid to increase productivity and prosperity. Fast forward to 2001 and the World Trade Organization welcomed China as its newest member, allowing the nation to access the world’s markets and more favorable rates, marking it one of the most consequential events of the 21^st century. The country has since become responsible for almost one third of manufacturing output, surpassing Japan in 2010 to become the 2^nd largest economy, and is now home to 12 of the 100 largest firms by market capitalization, more than any country apart from the United States.

Economic Troubles: The Real Estate indebtedness

China, unlike the vast majority of the developed world, imposes restrictions on capital outflows. Coupled with a very volatile stock market, Chinese consumers tend to favor housing as the main form of investment, visible by its high ownership rates (around 90% compared to the US’s 65%) and the increasing purchase of 2^nd and 3^rd homes. Home ownership also seems to be a consequence of China’s demographic imbalance, with men vastly outnumbering women, as it seemingly becomes a pre-requisite for marriage. This leaves the country heavily vulnerable to this market, with some estimating that it is responsible for as much as 30% of the GDP when accounting to related activities. In addition, as China’s population begins to decline, the increase in prices that supports this investment can only go on for so long. 

The year of 2008 marked one of the worst financial crises on record, shooting the world’s collective output growth into negative territory for the first time in at least 50 years. This tumble, however, did not seem to reach China as its output still recorded an impressive growth rate of 9%, due, in no small part, to the introduction of a massive stimulus package keeping interest rates low and borrowing cheap. This allowed companies like Evergrande – the largest (by sales) real estate developer in China as of 2016 – to use its lands as collateral to borrow money, to then be used to acquire more land (and so on), which, while allowing for massive growth, meant that debt levels also grew. With growing levels of non-financial debt by 2020, and with the goal of mitigating the risk, the Communist Party introduced the “three red lines” aimed at limiting the ease with which developers could accumulate debt. Going back to Evergrande´s case, while it announced plans to reduce its debt, issues resurfaced in 2021. With 1,5 million homes partially paid for, and an estimated 300 billion US dollars in liabilities, homebuyers began to protest in Guangzhou in a showing of the climbing proportion of these difficulties, and the company finally defaulted in December of 2021. With other major property developers having defaulted as well, namely HNA and Sunac, the sector is at risk of severely fragilizing one of the world’s largest economies.

Economic Troubles: The Railway headache

The massive fiscal stimulus of 2008 was not restricted to the real estate sector. In fact, to keep the economy going, China embarked on heavy infrastructure spending, of which the railway was a big part. Infrastructure spending is one of the most efficient ways to boost an economy; not only does it employ a large number of people, but it produces something that continues to offer value long before the project is concluded. Notwithstanding, this railway investment soon began to give the nation headaches. Not only was it plagued with corruption accusations, but by not technically being managed by the government but by public companies that could more easily borrow capital, a construction spree gave way to a bigger problem. As the most profitable lines between the largest populational centers had been constructed, the growth of the system was based on connecting smaller cities further apart, meaning profit was harder to come by. The troubles began to intensify in 2015 when operating profits didn’t even cover interest payments and have since worsened. As tracks began to age, requiring more frequent maintenance, and with ticket prices rigidity blocking a revenue increase, the issues began to pile up. Ultimately, COVID dealt the final blow, plummeting ridership numbers and effectively making every line unprofitable, leaving a system with estimated levels of debt close to a trillion dollars.

Caveats and final thoughts

China has been recently facing a large number of economic headwinds, from a potential housing market collapse and overspending on infrastructure to more recent extensive lockdowns, trade wars, heat waves and floods. But to answer the question raised – “Is the country heading for a collapse?” – most probably not. Economies naturally go through booms and busts, and the latter, while painful, offer a way to remove the least efficient and productive elements in the market, and in the case of China, a chance to move away towards more sustainable sectors such as tourism or R&D. Furthermore, with a tight grip on the economy and the largest pile of foreign reserves of any country, China has a cushion against any possible bank runs and the ability to guarantee currency stability. The country has, for now, also dodged the climbing inflation levels seen in much of the rest of the world, and the central bank has even lowered interest rates. With the mentioned problems being addressed, and some more, including the lockdowns and environment irregularities set to dissipate in the short to medium run, China may no longer be able to support the huge growth levels it once did, but its economy is surely far from collapsing, with continuous stability and development guaranteeing its position as one of the largest and most robust on earth.  

Sources: World Bank, Trading Economics, Business Insider, Oxford, Boden, Statista, Bloomber, Market Cap, Financial Times, Reuters, New York Times, CNBC, Eurasian Times, FRED

In general, there are many pros and cons to the creation of a monetary union. The creation of a single currency among many countries allows for the lowering of cross-country transaction costs, increases certainty for investment while, because of this, stimulating trade and job creation. On the other hand, it means that the union’s monetary authority has the responsibility of implementing a “one size fits all” monetary policy, which may create problems if the members of the monetary union have very different economies or if the shocks which monetary policy is meant to address occur asymmetrically across countries.

The creation of the Euro

An Economic and Monetary Union has been an objective of the European Union from as early on as the late ’60s/early 70s, with the first steps towards the coordination of the member states´ monetary policies having been taken with the launch of the EMS (European Monetary System) in 1979. However, it wasn´t until a decade later that the idea of a single currency union really started to take shape, upon the presentation in the “Delors Report” of a three-stage plan to be applied in the ’90s to prepare the union for what would come to be known as the euro area, ultimately culminating in the creation of a single currency and the European Central Bank.

The idea of a common currency first and foremost appeared as an important symbol of political and social integration in Europe, tied with the notion that an increased integration of the European member states would reduce the risk of war and crisis on the continent. Then, on an economic viewpoint, a common monetary policy centered around price stability was viewed as an important propulsor of economic stability. Likewise, those who supported the creation of the euro believed it would allow for an increase in market integration, consequently reducing transportation costs and improving market efficiency and price transparency.

In 1991, the Maastricht Treaty effectively cemented the transformation of the European Community into a full Economic and Monetary Union, laying down the rules for qualification for membership of the Monetary Union. Indeed, a set of macroeconomic criteria that member states had to respect to be able to participate in the EMU and adopt what would be the new common currency (the euro) was defined. These became commonly known as the four convergence criteria, focusing on price stability, public finances, exchange-rate stability, and long-term interest rates. In terms of price stability, a member state´s inflation rate (measured by the HCPI) should not exceed more than 1.5% of the best three performing member states. As for public finances, to ensure that they are sustainable, government deficit should not surpass 3% of the GDP and public debt should be below 60% of the GDP (although some accommodation here was made at the time of the start of the Union, as many member states did not fulfil these specific public finance requirements). Moreover, regarding long-term interest rates, to guarantee the durability of the convergence, they must not be more than 2 percentage points above that of the three member states with the lowest interest rates. Finally, when it comes to ensuring exchange-rate stability, applicants to the common union should have been participating in the ERM II (Exchange Rate Mechanism) for at least two years prior to the adoption of the common currency without severely devaluing against the euro.

The need for this set of requirements to be put in place prior to the entrance into the monetary union came as a necessary part of subjecting such a wide range of countries – still very much asymmetrical in some regards – to a single monetary policy but allowing them to keep their national fiscal policies. Indeed, some countries with better performing public finances and benefiting from low interest rates (such as Germany) expressed their concerns of how being associated with other not as well performing countries could negatively impact their economy, hence their pressure for a system of rules to be establish so as to guarantee as much as possible convergence among the member states. This type of concern is also reflected in the way much of EU´s monetary policy is designed, particularly in their rigidity and zealous focus on price stability, as is greatly patented in the way the European Central Bank was created in 1998 very much influenced by the German model, mirroring their Bundesbank.

Ultimately, the euro was officially launched on January 1^st, 1999, with the exchange rates of the participating currencies being irrevocably fixed, replacing its precursor (the “ecu”, a transitory currency composed of a basket of European currencies to serve as a basis for fixing the exchange rates of the member states) at 1:1 value. In this initial phase the euro only served in the form of cashless payments, having been put effectively in circulation in 2002.

The beginning of the Monetary Union and the Financial Crisis

The process of increasing openness of financial markets alongside the adoption of the Euro’s convergence criteria by countries wishing to join the monetary union meant that during the 1990s there was a convergence of interest rates across countries, with some countries like Portugal, Greece and Italy enjoying interest rates much lower than before.

During the early 2000’s, thanks in part to the abundant credit and to the advances in economic openness, some countries (such as Portugal, Greece, and Italy) began accumulating large current account deficits. These may simply be the sign of a healthy economy, if they are being used to finance future growth so that, later, the current account deficit can be matched by a current account surplus. However, if this is not the case, then current account deficits will accumulate, increasing a country’s external debt until, at some point, external credit stops being granted. While they were accumulating large stocks of external debt, some of these countries were also amassing very significant amounts of public debt.

In 2008, as the financial crisis began, and its contagion spread across financial markets there was a global flight to safety. Because of this, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Italy, and Ireland, which, to differing extents, fell into the trends described above, began facing international credit crunches and the yields on their sovereign bonds began increasing, with Portugal and Greece being the most affected. This sovereign debt crisis then led to troubles in the banking sectors of these countries which can then worsen the sovereign debt crisis, creating the “Doom Loop”.

The Greek banking and debt crisis was challenging and, in 2012, the possibility of a default was looming. Certain actions, like currency devaluation to decrease current account deficits or drastic increases in liquidity to Greek banks to avoid the banking system from grinding to a halt, were not available to Greece, since monetary policy was delegated to the ECB. Because of the deteriorating situation and due to the possibility of Greece exiting the Euro, the ECB decided to do “whatever it takes” to save the Euro and announced a program for purchasing debt of the distressed countries on the secondary markets, reassuring markets and bringing down the debt spreads, and, potentially, saving the Euro.

Who to favor?

The ECB mandate has one and clear focus, price stability. To ensure so, the central bank applies all the tools that it has available. However, the effects from such tools impact multiple variables which have important macro-economic consequences for Eurozone countries, such as FX rates or credit spreads. This, coupled with an asymmetric impact on the moves of these variables for different countries creates a huge dilemma for the policy makers behind ECB’s decisions: Who to favor?

Does the question sound simple to you? Let’s think of today’s scenario for policy makers at the ECB. In Europe we are experiencing broad record inflation, way above the defined target for price stability, meanwhile credit spreads are already very high compared to historical values, mainly for peripherals countries, and the Euro FX is at some of its lowest levels, especially against the dollar. Should the central bank tighten financial conditions to fight inflation and strengthen the Euro but, at the same time, risking a default/crisis in peripherals countries? Or should it do the exact opposite?

What would you do, who do you favor?

Conclusion

The introduction of the euro brought many benefits for the countries involved but it is still a long way from its counterparty in the United States of America. These problems arise mainly due to the structural differences between all the economies in the Eurozone. The “one size fits all” is still one of the biggest challenges going forward with some steps already made into solving it.

Sources: European Commission

Diogo Almeida

João Baptista

Sara Robalo

Inês Lindoso

João Correia

Did you know that Millennials make up about 27% of the world’s population? Maybe you didn’t but this information comes from a science that we all know and yet often don’t give its due value: Demography. 

Demography is, by definition, the study of statistics such as births, deaths, income, or the incidence of disease, which illustrate the structure of populations. The individuals that study these factors are called demographers. 

In fact, this science led to curious conclusions, like the one at the beginning, but this science is much more and more complex than that. As we will show to you later in this article, demography has a very close link to the economy, as it is with the data collected and treated that, for example, financial, banking, or even insurance institutions establish their rates and conditions.

There are many factors that demography considers, but the most important ones are population size, population density, age structure, fecundity, mortality and sex ratio. All these factors affect the economy: for instance if population size decreases the working-age population will also decrease, which reduces labor input and leads to a slowdown in economic growth, resulting in the end in a decreasing growth rate of GDP per capita.  

Different Countries, different demographics

During the last 20 years, the global demographic landscape has suffered several changes in terms of population, age structure and wealth. Nevertheless, these changes are not linear across the globe, so there are various countries with very different demographic trends due to other variables such as culture and climate.

Demographics in developed countries

Developed countries, such as the United States, Japan, and European Union member countries are generally characterized by their high level of industrialization and high income per capita.   Their population structure is estimated to have already peaked and so, the total population is expected to gradually begin to decline due to low birth rates and rising average age. In fact, it is estimated that in the most developed countries the population over 65 years old will reach 25% of the total population by 2040. In relation to Europe, the projected average age is 47 years, although it is estimated that the people in Greece, Italy and Spain will age faster. Japan and South Korea will reach average ages of 48 and 44, respectively. In these circumstances, a slowdown in productivity is expected, as well as an increase in the GDP share earmarked for pensions and medical care for the elderly.

During the next 20 years, a strong trend of immigration to developed countries is estimated due to their stability, quality of life and economic incentives despite not being able to change the overall structural direction.

Demographics in emerging countries (China, India)

In emerging countries, some Asian countries follow the same trend as European ones, although slower. That is, while European countries have already passed their populational peak, Asia will see its population increase exponentially until 2040 and then gradually decrease. Besides, it is expected that by 2027 India will be the country with the most population, surpassing China.

In terms of their human development evolution from demographic scenario, it is expected drastically improve given the increase in the proportion of working-age adults, greater female participation in the workforce and higher social stability in the most advanced age groups. However, the increase in development is thought to be faster than the increase in income, particularly in China, posing some challenges for governments.

Demographics in Underdeveloped Countries

The reality of developing countries is completely dichotomous from that of developed countries, not only at the economic level, as the former have a very limited level of industrialization and low per capita income, but mainly at the demographically. For example, countries like Sub-Saharan Africa have an infant mortality rate 18 times higher than the average of developed countries, whose infant mortality, on average, is less than 1%. Moreover, other differences strongly affect both birth and death rates, which are quite high, due to weak and limited health services, lack of access to information and contraceptive methods and few professional prospects, resulting in a short average life expectancy.

Developing countries are expected to increase their level of urbanization in the coming years, as their key development factor. In fact, according to the UN Report, the number of urban workers will increase from 1 billion to 2.5 billion in 2040, which suggests a huge boost in the development of these countries. However, the speed of urban growth is not enough to keep up with population growth – like in the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, whose population is expected to double by 2050, so these countries will probably overload their capacity to provide infrastructure and educational systems, necessary to enhance economic growth and human development.

Impact of demography on interest rates, savings and investment

Demography, particularly in aspects such as population ageing, will have a determinant impact on interest rates, bringing attached serious consequences for household savings and investment. Therefore, it is fundamental to take into account how current demographic trends like increasing life expectancy and the decline in fertility rates (with the baby boom generation moving higher up in the demographic pyramid) will impact the savings and investment market.

First, it is crucial to understand how net savers and net borrowers are usually distributed in an economy across different age groups. In accordance with the life cycle model developed by Franco Modigliani, savings are expected to vary across a person´s lifetime in a U-shaped form, suggesting that younger people and the elderly are usually those that actively save the least, whereas the middle-aged are responsible for the biggest share of savings. This is related to the notion of consumption smoothing over a person´s life, making it intuitive that people are more prone to save when they have higher incomes to then use these resources for times in which their incomes are relatively lower (during retirement or in the early years of their careers when their wages are usually lower).

Related to the notion of population dynamics, we can start by exploring how life expectancy will influence the savings market. Considering the case of increasing life expectancy that has been more or less experienced all across the globe in recent years, keeping the retirement age constant, it would imply that people would have to spread out their accumulated resources over the course of their lives over a longer retirement period. This, in turn, will trigger two different scenarios: one in which people anticipate this and increase their savings rate to offset the impact – resulting in a lower interest rate – and another in which they do not adjust their savings accordingly, leading to lower resources in the long-run and a higher interest rate.

On another note, we can also look at the effect of birth rates on savings and investment. Taking into account a reduction in birth rates, we can distinguish two effects. On one hand, it results in lower population growth, consequently contributing towards a lower GDP growth and thus a decrease in demand for investment – pressure for a lower interest rate. On the other hand, it contributes towards a higher number of the elderly/middle aged relative to the young; with the elderly usually being associated with lower savings rate but higher accumulation of capital, this will make it so two contrasting forces will clash, with the lower savings rate contributing towards a higher interest rate but a higher volume of accumulated savings/capital having the opposite effect. As for the fact that the middle aged are also to occupy a much more preponderant role in the population composition, as the savers of the economy, they will contribute to a higher demand for financial securities, hence pushing interest rates downwards.

With so many forces at play, the overall impact of demographics on the investment/savings market is rather unclear, even though all seems to point out that the current downward pressure on interest rates that has been felt in the past decades/years in developed (and ageing…) economies is likely here to stay, probably being itself already a manifestation of the impact of demographic trends on this facet of the economy.

Can productivity save the weak demographics in developed countries?

Increases in productivity can lessen the impact of such population shifts, and technological advances are the ideal source of productivity boosts. This, however, is a double-edged sword. On one hand, technological progress increases productivity, but at the same time, it can eliminate jobs, increasing unemployment.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, year-on-year productivity growth has slowed. Still, even though the rate of productivity growth has slowed, the absolute output per worker is now the highest it has ever been in real economic terms. This highlights the offset of productivity on demographics as there are fewer and fewer people in the workforce but a higher productivity per worker.

Conclusion

Demographics do not determine the fate of economic growth, but they are certainly a key determinant for an economy’s growth potential. An ageing population coupled with a declining birth rate in the developed world points to a decline in future economic growth.

Sources: Office of the Director of National Intelligence – Global Trends, Harvard Business Review, Caixa Bank Research, Warwick, Fraser Institute.

Diogo Almeida

João Baptista

Sara Robalo

Inês Lindoso

João Correia