Latest news with #WesternEconomies
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How China's overlooked financial system enabled its industrial success
China has powered ahead of other nations in terms of industrial and export development, to the point where it is now seen by rivals (not least the US) as a threat that must be countered by trade protectionism. But most analyses of its success overlook the key role played by China's financial system. The mirror image of that success is the failure by many Western economies to nurture savings collections and investment systems that are well attuned to promoting balanced economic growth. Fund management skills, though often highly honed from the point of view of maximising financial returns, do not always equate to the optimum deployment of savings in the national interest. While China has used state funding (supplemented by private finance) to pursue a conscious industrial policy , Western economies have relied predominantly on markets to direct funds, typically to where financial returns are the highest. The former and more dirigiste approach appears to be gaining support now. An article in the Financial Times on May 28, 'The lessons from China's dominance in manufacturing', marked a relatively rare attempt to offer an explanation of why China's national industrial policy, launched a decade ago , has met with defensive reactions from other nations. What the article did not offer, however, was any attempt to compare and contrast the Chinese experience with that of market-oriented approaches in the US and Europe. And yet such analysis is essential if policymakers are to identify and address the causes of the trade wars.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Labor Shortages Are Holding Back Desperately Needed Electrification
By , Olivia Rudgard, and Oscar Boyd Save Western economies need to electrify and fast, but where are all the skilled workers going to come from to install the heat pumps, solar panels and batteries needed? This week on the Zero podcast, Akshat Rathi talks with Olivia Rudgard about the shortage of labor in electrification industries, and why some experts are calling it an 'existential' crisis. This is the second episode in Bottlenecks, a new series exploring the lesser known obstacles standing in the way of our electrified future.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Zero: Labor Shortages Are Holding Back Electrification
Western economies need to electrify and fast, but where are all the skilled workers going to come from to install the heat pumps, solar panels and batteries needed? This week on Zero, Akshat Rathi talks with Olivia Rudgard about the shortage of labor in electrification industries, and why some experts are calling it an 'existential' crisis. This is the second episode in Bottlenecks, a new series exploring the lesser known obstacles standing in the way of our electrified future.
Washington Post
22-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Liz Truss: Elites killed my pro-growth agenda. Trump can't let them stop his.
Liz Truss was prime minister of Britain. President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have a herculean task ahead of them in turning around the U.S. economy and gripping the deep state that has promoted managed decline. But it is vital that they succeed. If they were not taking the actions they now are on tariffs, the U.S. economy would remain on course to be eclipsed by China, with other Western economies also dwindling in its wake — and our security with it.
