Today, we are fortunate to have a guest contribution written by Phillip Swagel, Professor in International Economic Policy at University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, and formerly Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Treasury Department (December 2006 to January 2009).
Category Archives: China
Why Governor Romney’s Threat on the Chinese Currency Matters
Maybe. Governor Romney has stated that he will declare China a currency manipulator on Day One, should he be elected President. In contrast to his other policy positions – from tax rates on the upper incomes, defense spending, coverage of pre-existing health conditions, the Blunt Amendment, Afghanistan timetable, first strike on Iran – he has exhibited remarkable (and pretty unique) constancy in his desire to call China a currency manipulator. In fact, one can find news reports from 2007 onward attesting to this long-standing stance [1], [2], [3]; so if there is any promise we should believe he will follow through on, it’s this one. And from Believe In America: Mitt Romney’s Plan for Jobs and Economic Growth (under “Day One”), it is:
Against a Sea of Enemies: China as Currency Manipulator
One of the interesting things about the presidential debate tonight was the prominence of China. Governor Romney repeated his insistence that he would declare China a currency manipulator “on day one”. (I am surprised he didn’t mention the “yellow peril”.) If his criterion is forex intervention, he should be prepared to declare many other countries manipulators as well.
China and the Middle Income Trap
Fated to a big trend slowdown?
China’s economic slowdown
As Niels Bohr (and others) observed, prediction is difficult, especially about the future. But if the challenge is predicting the number of 20-year-olds 5 years from now, you can get a pretty darn good start if you know the number of 15-year-olds right now.
China’s Trade Surplus
The August numbers are in. From MarketWatch:
China posted a wider-than-expected trade surplus in August as imports unexpectedly contracted from the year-ago period, suggesting anemic domestic demand, according to data released Monday.
Whither China?
Recent economic reports from China are, at the least, mixed. The responses to Friday’s GDP report are illustrative.
China and the Impending Global Slowdown
Even before the newest portents of a slowdown, [0] it was clear that 2012 gains in world output were going to be highly reliant on Chinese growth. Figure 1 shows that the Eurozone switches to a net drag on world growth. China’s contribution is thus a much larger share of total world growth.
Managing strategic petroleum reserves
The Wall Street Journal suggests today that part of the latest surge in China’s oil imports is attributable to a desire to boost the country’s oil stockpiles.
China: Inflation and Exchange Rate Watch
Chinese inflation is decelerating [0]. This suggests that whatever further real CNY appreciation occurs is likely arise from nominal appreciation, over the near term.