China
Signs of softness have mainly come from domestic demand. One possible explanation for the slowdown is the government’s efforts to crack down on official banqueting and excess spending, which led to a sharp deceleration in spending at restaurants. Fixed asset investment, the other key driver of...
U.S. exports of manufactures in the first quarter of 2013 of $299 billion were the same as in 2012, and the trade deficit was up by only $2 billion to $109 billion. Chinese exports, in striking contrast, rose by 19 percent to $484 billion, while the trade surplus soared by 28 percent to $175...
In 2012, China’s real (inflation-adjusted) GDP growth amounted to just 7.8 percent, the first time in more than a decade that it failed to reach 8 percent. Although some of the slowing was caused by short-term cyclical factors, many believe that it at least partially reflects ongoing structural...
Introduction
After three decades of fast economic expansion, China’s labor market has gone through significant changes. While the dwindling supply of young migrant workers has been widely reported for several years, the growing skills shortage is now attracting more attention. The potential talent...
U.S. and Chinese exports of manufactures grew at a slower pace in 2012, although the 8 percent growth in Chinese exports was almost double the 5 percent U.S. growth. Far more important was the continued surge in the trade imbalances—the U.S. deficit and the Chinese surplus—for a third year. The U.S...
China has the largest manufacturing economy in the world, and it widened its lead over the United States in 2011. At its pace of growth over the decade ending in 2011, China’s manufacturing value-added measured in dollars doubled every four years. When making country comparisons, however,...
Background
At the most recent meeting of the MAPI Board of Trustees—just days before the 2012 U.S. election—a spokesperson from the Obama administration detailed the initiatives undertaken at the president’s direction during his first term to boost U.S. manufacturing. At the conclusion of these...
The U.S. trade deficit in manufactures increased by $23 billion, or 7 percent, during the first three quarters of 2012, compared with 2011, while the Chinese surplus was up by $74 billion, or 16 percent. Over the past three years, the U.S. deficit is projected to have risen by 52 percent, to $495...
MAPI Economist Yingying Xu provides the forecast for China’s economic growth in 2012 and 2013. She explains why China’s economic growth will slow down, and why the more likely case is for the country to observe a soft (rather than hard) landing. The growth pace of industrial value-added...
Given its mounting impact on China’s macroeconomic growth and financial stability, the real estate sector attracts enormous attention from both policymakers and private investors. The focus has been on residential housing prices, which rose at an unprecedented pace during 2009-2010, when monetary...