China’s slowdown looks to have bottomed out, at least for now. Third-quarter GDP grew by 7.4% , the lowest rate in three years, but in line with what economists were expecting. But most encouraging was the news that Chinese retail sales saw growth that was nearly double that figure at 14.4%. I’m not the biggest fan of China’s “managed...Read More

China has what I like to call a “high quality problem.” The Chinese economy grew by 7.4 percent in the third quarter.  This was the country’s worst quarter since early 2009, but it was in line with market expectations. Only in China would 7.4% growth constitute a severe slowdown.  I don’t have to tell you...Read More

It’s a peculiar sort of problem when your economy grows at 8.1% in the first quarter and yet talk abounds of a “hardRead More

In the interconnected web of the global economy, the rise of China has been one of the biggest drivers of the decade-long bull market in energy and commodities. But China is also making its presence felt in other less obvious areas of the economy. Yes, it would appear that affluent Chinese are driving a global...Read More

In “Human and Economic Evolution,”  I discussed how natural selection is alive and well among humans, and used such examples as genetic resistance to malaria among Africans and high aptitudes in the maths and sciences among Ashkenazi Jews.  Today I’d like to discuss an interesting finding reported in The Economist that is relevant to the...Read More