Globalisation has peaked, with any further major integration is unlikely. In fact, a policy-driven period of de-globalisation is increasingly likely. Flows of trade and foreign direct investment have flattened off as a share of nominal GDP over the past …
15th October 2019
Upcoming state elections could help determine the pace of economic reform in India over the coming years. A win for the BJP in Haryana could provide reassurance for state assemblies elsewhere that contentious reforms need not be electorally unpopular. …
The Polish Law and Justice Party’s second term in power is likely to be much less impressive than its first, marked by slower economic growth, higher inflation and a poor financial market performance. Law and Justice went into Sunday’s election with a …
14th October 2019
We estimate that the current wave of globalisation is responsible for around a third of the pick-up in global per capita income growth since 1990. Almost all of that reflects an improvement in productivity growth in emerging economies. For advanced …
10th October 2019
History shows that waves of globalisation are driven by both technology and policy, but protectionist shifts alone tend to end them. In some cases, like in the 1970s, a moderate pushback by policymakers can cause globalisation to stall. But the experience …
8th October 2019
A continued decline in the natural rate of unemployment over the past 15 years means that there is probably a little bit more slack in the labour market than indicated by the near-record low unemployment rate. As a result, wage growth is unlikely to …
2nd October 2019
With question marks hanging over the outlook for global economic growth, it has become increasingly difficult to get a handle on the true state of physical copper demand. Therefore, we have turned to the Capital Economics Copper Demand Proxy for answers. …
This short Focus is a primer on our Asset Allocation Service , which we launched in September 2019. It is split into three sections. Section 1 provides an overview of the service. Section 2 outlines our methodology for projecting returns. Section 3 …
27th September 2019
War with the US would cause a collapse in Iran’s economy that would directly knock around 0.3%-pts off global GDP – equal to the damage from the US-China trade war so far. More important to the rest of the world, though, would be the resulting surge in …
20th September 2019
Weak economic growth and low inflation mean Emerging Asia’s rate cutting cycle has further to run. In contrast, the consensus and financial markets think the easing cycle will soon end in many countries. Having raised interest rates steadily throughout …
18th September 2019
Since securing re-election this year, the Modi government has made it a formal aim to almost double the size of India’s economy to US$5trn by March 2025. In our view, the government is likely to fall short of this lofty ambition. Even so, we think that …
17th September 2019
Negative policy rates have had some positive effects in the economies where they apply and the direct adverse consequences have been small. But the policy has contributed to a fall in long-term interest rates which is doing greater damage to banks’ …
5th September 2019
The inversion of the yield curve and the deterioration in survey-based indicators have raised fears that the US is headed for a recession, but the hard economic data and other financial indicators suggest the risks remain low. To cut through the …
The acquisition of reserve assets by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has seen it take on a role more suited to fund managers than central bankers. Faced with the prospect of negative bond yields further and further along the curve, we think that …
21st August 2019
A lower cost of funding via foreign liabilities, a higher return on overseas assets and falling capital goods imports should all support Australia’s current account over the next couple of years. However, we think that those tailwinds will all be …
20th August 2019
OPEC the exception, not the rule Most commodity cartels have failed to manipulate prices for very long, and we think that any future cartels in commodity markets will be no different. Arguably, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the …
15th August 2019
Emerging Asia has not only been the fastest growing region since the global financial crisis, it has also been the most stable. Regional growth has also been less volatile compared with the period before the financial crisis. This “great moderation” is …
14th August 2019
The upcoming economic slowdown brings with it the risk of a rise in mortgage delinquencies. However, tighter mortgage lending standards since the financial crisis means borrowers today are more resilient to shocks. That will minimise payment problems from …
8th August 2019
Hopes that President Cyril Ramaphosa can quickly revive South Africa’s economy are fading. The real problems are all structural, so even if he does make bold policy changes – far from guaranteed, given political obstacles – these would take years to take …
7th August 2019
China is left with few good options to hit back at the US in ways that wouldn’t be self-defeating. Rather than direct retaliation, officials are therefore likely to focus their efforts on broader measures to offset the drag from US tariffs, including …
5th August 2019
Were the UK an emerging market the hedge fund vultures would already be circling following the rise in the current account deficit to 4% of GDP last year – the largest in the developed world. While the UK won’t have an emerging-markets style balance of …
22nd July 2019
In view of the wider interest, we are also published this Global Markets Focus to clients of our UK Economics Service. While we think that the twists and turns of the UK’s journey out of the European Union will have a bearing on Gilts and sterling, that …
17th July 2019
While we think that the twists and turns of the UK’s journey out of the European Union will have a bearing on Gilts and sterling, that won’t be the only factor driving them. What’s more, we doubt that Brexit will matter much for UK equities. There are …
Our central scenario is that cutting interest rates to 0.5% will be sufficient to restore growth and eventually return underlying inflation to the RBA’s target. If more stimulus were required, the government would probably remain reluctant to loosen …
The strength in consumer spending has been crucial to the economy’s resilience over the past year but there are three reasons why many people think that the consumer sector is living on borrowed time – namely an unfavourable outlook for incomes, low …
15th July 2019
Mounting geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran have prompted fears of a full-blown military war in the Gulf region. The most important impact would clearly be the loss of life. From the perspective of the energy market, if war were to break out, …
11th July 2019
We think that the all-property to bond yield spread will narrow from its current elevated levels, although this is not likely to happen before late 2020. But, structural changes mean that the property to bond yield spread won’t narrow to the early-1990s …
While it is recognised that political developments, such as a no deal Brexit and a Labour government, have the capacity to send the economy in different directions, it’s not as well known that three economic trends are in train regardless – looser fiscal …
The trade war between the US and China so far appears to have had a small negative impact on most of the region, although some countries, most notably Vietnam, look to be benefiting as US demand has shifted away from China towards alternative …
26th June 2019
Recent comments by Mario Draghi suggest that the ECB will loosen policy sooner than we had anticipated. We now expect the Bank to strengthen its forward guidance in July and cut its deposit rate in September. Mr Draghi is then likely to go out with a bang …
With productivity slowing and working age populations set to start falling across most of Asia, we expect regional growth to slow to just 3.5% in a decade’s time. This compares with average growth of 6.0% over the past 10 years. Our forecasts are much …
12th June 2019
The domestic headwinds that have caused China’s economy to slow over the past year are abating thanks to the policy support that has put a floor under credit growth and fuelled local government spending. But policymakers are still concerned about credit …
24th May 2019
Structural headwinds will weigh on China’s growth rate over the coming decade. If well managed, this slowdown will be gradual. But a more abrupt adjustment shouldn’t be ruled out. We see two main threats – political instability that disrupts economic …
16th May 2019
The key determinants of EM political risk premiums are the type of political shock and the strength of an economy’s external balance sheet. With this in mind, Ukraine and Argentina have the greatest potential to suffer large and long-lasting political …
1st May 2019
Contrary to the mainstream view that China will keep growing at fairly rapid rates, we expect GDP growth there to slow to 2% by 2030. This slowdown need not in itself be bad for the rest of the world, especially if slower growth continues to be …
2nd April 2019
China’s property sector is crucial to the economy’s performance and to China’s demand for many materials. In this updated and expanded Handbook, we discuss the drivers of the property cycle and answer key questions on affordability, over-investment, …
4th December 2018
Only one-quarter of Indian women of working age are in paid employment. If participation in the workforce could increase to the rates of other Asian countries such as Indonesia or the Philippines by 2025, the economy could be 15% larger than otherwise. …
7th August 2018
Assessing the damage from a global trade war is tricky because there are few historical precedents and the costs would depend on the nature of the conflict. But our best guess is that, if all governments imposed blanket tariffs of around 25% on all …
9th July 2018
Slowing population growth and population ageing will weigh heavily on economic growth in the coming decade or two, particularly in Europe and Asia. These forces will be only partly offset by increased participation in the workforce by women and older …
24th May 2018
China has had a stellar run during the past few decades, achieving sustained rates of growth only ever previously seen in a handful of emerging economies. Most major forecasters expect this outperformance to continue for the foreseeable future. By …
14th May 2018
China’s low-key response to last week’s tariff announcement by President Trump reflects in part a desire not to exacerbate tensions further. But Chinese officials will also be aware that, while they have a number of options for retaliation, restrictions …
28th March 2018
The Trump fiscal stimulus, which has turned out to be larger than seemed likely a few months ago, should boost economic growth in the US a little, and encourage the Fed to press on with six rate hikes between now and mid-2019. But at a global level, any …
9th March 2018
It looks increasingly likely that President Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium on grounds of national security will be implemented in some form. If so, other governments including the European Union, will respond with …
7th March 2018
Talk of India’s potential to become the “next China” is inevitable given their enormous populations, and will intensify as China’s economy slows. Those hoping that India can match China’s former rates of economic growth are likely to be disappointed. …
If the long-running skirmishes between the US and China were to escalate into a trade war, China would try to occupy the moral high ground by portraying itself as a defender of free trade. At the time though, officials would use a variety of means that US …
30th January 2018
With the People’s Bank last week tweaking the interest rates on its open market operations, it seems timely to highlight some of the peculiarities of China’s monetary policy framework. One key one is that, as the People’s Bank has still not made a full …
21st December 2017
The recapitalisation package recently announced by the government is the most significant measure yet to tidy up India’s beleaguered banking system and should all but enable India’s banks to meet global capital requirements over the coming years. Further …
11th December 2017
China’s property sector is crucial to the economy’s performance and to China’s demand for many materials. In this Focus, we discuss the drivers of the property cycle and answer the key questions on affordability, over-investment, demographics and …
30th November 2017
