Despite growing worries about post-pandemic inflation and the danger of a bubble, stock markets appear impervious to warnings from the sceptics. Where it was the technology and home entertainment sectors that surged during last year’s lockdowns, investors are now betting on cyclicals, commodities and banking to boom in a turbo-charged economic recovery. Government and central…
During the 1980s, the US lived through Reaganomics, an economic philosophy rooted in a steadfast belief in deregulation, lower taxes on businesses and the wealthy, and less federal government spending. Now, as America starts to emerge from the pandemic, we’re seeing its almost-exact opposite on the ascent: Bidenomics. The term refers to President Joe Biden’s…
One of the questions policymakers and analysts are beginning to grapple with post-pandemic is the potential impact of Covid on birth rates in a world where many rich countries are already seeing population decline. Business Insider reports that women are taking a ‘rain check’ on babies, due to both economic distress as well as their…
In August 2020, we postulated as to whether the recovery of the world economy would take the shape of a V- or a U- or an L. What we are seeing emerge instead is a K-shape recovery, where different parts of the economy and different countries recover at different rates and in different magnitudes. A…
The world economy is showing surprising resilience in the wake of the pandemic, boosted by fiscal stimulus and low interest rates. Several large economies have reported higher than expected GDP growth for the first quarter of this year. Year-on-year, China’s economy grew by a record 18.3% in the first quarter, while US output in the…
US President Biden has set out the first part of a grand infrastructure and jobs proposal, which will see $2 trillion ploughed into America’s infrastructure and its shift to greener energy. The White House plans to pay for the proposal by raising corporate taxes and eliminating tax breaks for fossil fuels. The massive spending on…
Generous central bank and government stimulus programmes have helped to keep the world economy and equity markets afloat since the start of the pandemic. As vaccination drives accelerate across the globe, economists and analysts are speculating about what will happen when these programmes run to an end. Equity markets in China offer us some insight,…
Fund managers around the world are scrutinising human rights and environmental concerns in their investment decisions. BlackRock—which last year committed to selling stakes in fossil fuel companies—has signalled that it now plans to press companies about their policies related to human rights, as well as biodiversity, deforestation and water. Economists forecast that a failure to…
Australian virologist and Nobel prize winner Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet declared in 1962 that one of the most important revolutions in history was the “virtual elimination of social diseases”. After all, within two decades, smallpox and polio would be eliminated from most advanced nations. Yet, according to the Financial Times, Burnett had not fully considered…
