There are many questionable bits of conventional wisdom about China, but one of the most persistent is this: The Middle Kingdom must get rich before it becomes free.
Asia
Red Steel City: What China’s Oldest Steel Factory Says About the Nation’s Future
This article is the first in Foroohar’s series on Chinese business developments and their effects on the global economy; find the rest of the series here.
If you want to understand the history of modern China, a good place …
Grading Abenomics: After Stock Slide, Japan Economic Reforms Under Scrutiny
Is Japan now officially in bear market? It’s a question being asked by many investors today, given that the Nikkei closed yesterday 20 percent down from a recent high on May 22nd. The market was up slightly, by 1.9%, on Friday, but mainly off the back of bargain buying. In technical terms, a 20 percent drop is often labeled a bear …
China, the U.S. and a Special Relationship in the Making: 5 Shared Economic Challenges
As President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping settle into conversation in California for the weekend, there’s talk of a new kind of G-2 alliance between the nations, and even a “grand bargain” over issues like trade, …
Guess Who’s Bullish on Europe? China’s New Investment Play
Another day in Europe, another Chinese acquisition: over the first June weekend it was the turn of three prestigious Bordeaux wine châteaus, Bon Pasteur, Rolland-Mallet and Bertineau St.-Vincent, to be acquired by the Hong Kong–based Goldin Group for an undisclosed amount.
A new wave of Chinese investment is rolling across the …
Japan Market Crash: A Slow Leak in the “Central Bank Bubble”
There’s a truism in investing that the last one into a market is the first one out. And that certainly seems to be the case today, with Japan’s Nikkei index crashing off the back of two things: First, hints from the Federal Reserve that the U.S. economy is improving enough to justify a slow pull-back from the central bank’s …
Forget ‘Buy American’? U.S. Retailers Push an ‘Imports Work’ Campaign
Wanna support American workers? Buy imports. So says a new report, which claims that a cheap, robust imports marketplace not only helps American workers and families, but local farmers, manufacturers, and small businesses as well.
The Real Reason to Worry About China
The world is worried about China, but not for the right reasons. Global financial markets were roiled after the world’s second largest economy notched only a 7.7% boost to GDP in the first quarter — a drool-worthy performance …
We’re #1! Toyota and Ford Bicker About Who Has the World’s Best-Selling Car
It’s a battle for bragging rights, with two automakers saying they each had the world’s best-selling car model last year. Can they both be right?
A Yen for Cash: How the Bank of Japan Could Threaten the Global Economy
Japan has been an experiment in economics ever since its crushing defeat at the end of World War II. First, Tokyo employed inventive techniques to rebuild its economy and wealth — the export-led, state-directed system in which …
Can China Escape the Middle-Income Trap?
It’s easier to jump from a very poor country to a middle-income nation than it is to advance from that middle-income status to the ranks of the truly developed. China must make the leap
Is Asia Heading for a Debt Crisis?
Amid worries of Asia’s rising debt, an HSBC study notes that, based on ratios of bank credit to GDP for the region, “leverage is now higher than at the peak before the Asian crisis in 1997”