Blog posts tagged by tag: Economic Growth (GDP)

• Spain: The economy that continues to silence the critics

  One of the original PIGS, the Spanish economy continues to silence its critics, growing quarter after quarter. And in what is starting to become familiar territory for the Southern European country, the economy started 2017 off with a bang, dispelling fears of an abrupt slowdown in economic activity that some had expected due to the fading of several tailwinds. 

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP), European Union, Spain

• 23 economic experts weigh in: Why is productivity growth so low?

  Productivity is considered by some to be the most important area of economics and yet one of the least understood. Its simplest definition is output per hour worked, however, productivity in the real world is not that simple. Productivity is a major factor in an economy’s ability to grow and therefore is the greatest determinant of the standard of living for a given person or group of people. It is the reason why a worker today makes much more than a century ago, because each hour of work produces more output of goods and services.

  According to Ian Stewart, Deloitte’s Chief Economist, “It is hard to overstate the importance of productivity in driving improvements in living standards. Since 1850, UK GDP per head has risen 20-fold, transforming our standards of living. If productivity had remained flat over that period, GDP per head would only have doubled.”

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP)

• Global growth to edge up in 2017

  Global growth is likely to strengthen this year but uncertainty over geopolitical issues across the globe, elections in various European countries, Brexit negotiations and Donald Trump as President of the United States, pose risks to growth. Have a look at what is expected for the developed economies & the emerging markets in 2017.

  

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  Tags: Asia, Eastern Europe, Economic Growth (GDP), Infographic, Latin America, Major Economies

• What does Donald Trump mean for the U.S. economy?

  Donald Trump will take power in January and will govern a U.S. economy that is in its seventh year of growing tepidly at around 2%. Our Consensus Forecast for the U.S. economy this month sees GDP growing 2.1% in 2017, but this will be subject to revision in the coming weeks and months as the economic priorities of President-elect Trump become clearer. Here we analyze the immediate and possible future implications of Trump’s victory. During his campaign, Trump outlined an extremely controversial policy agenda, including—but not limited to—building a wall on the U.S. southern border with Mexico, renegotiating NAFTA, cancelling or reforming the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), imposing punitive trade tariffs on China and cutting taxes for the wealthy. The unexpected victory of Trump in November’s election and the resultant uncertainty over future U.S. policy will have serious ramifications for both the domestic and global economies.

  

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP), Infographic, United States

• The latest on the economy of Latin America

  Latin America has been in recession for almost two years and it looks likely that come the end of this year, the Latin American economy will have been in recession for a second consecutive year for the first time since the "Lost Decade" of the 1980s. But could it be making a triumphant return to the top in 2017? We take a look at the latest on the economy of Latin America below. 

  

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP), Latin America

• Short-term pain before long-term gain? A look at French labor reform and economic growth

  The French economy has come under the spotlight again after disappointing GDP growth in the third quarter. Even the French government has now finally admitted that its 1.5% growth forecast for 2016 is overly optimistic, long after our analysts downgraded their forecasts. Ironically, one of many factors that has dragged on economic growth in France this year has been the ostensibly pro-growth labor reform introduced in the summer, or rather the strikes over it. These weighed on domestic demand earlier this year and will thereby play a part in penalizing France’s overall GDP growth in 2016. This calls for a closer look at the labor reform and what it means for French GDP growth going forward, particularly in a short-term perspective. Such a structural reform, if introduced in an already robust economic context, should have positive consequences for the economy almost from the outset. In the current environment of weak demand and constrained macroeconomic policy, however, the potential losses of the reform could well exceed the potential gains in the short-run, regardless of the eventual benefits that should hopefully win over in the medium- to long-term.  

  

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP), France, Infographic

• Asia: Unremarkable growth & unfulfilled promises?

  Is Asia’s economy stabilizing? Will Asia ever fulfill its promise of being the driving engine for global growth? Will China get back to the booming growth of a few years ago or has the last year been a sign of the beginning of the end? Will India usurp China as the darling of the Asia-Pacific economy? These are some of the questions on the tips of tongues of many, and we try to answer those questions and more in our progress report on the Asian economy so far in 2016.

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  Tags: Asia, China, Economic Growth (GDP), India, Japan

• There's no end in sight to the Venezuela crisis

  Venezuela, as a country, has seen better days. The economy is in particular disarray. As a result, in our latest LatinFocus Consensus Forecast report for Venezuela, we project the economy contracting 9.7% in 2016.

  The crisis doesn’t look like it will be ending any time soon. Along with the disaster that is the economy, political turmoil, which stems largely from the economic crisis, has caused much uproar among the masses and has left President Nicolás Maduro’s government scrambling to keep its stranglehold on power. 

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP), Inflation, oil prices, Venezuela

• Survey of international economists shows uncertainty surrounding elections damaging U.S. growth prospects

  A new survey by FocusEconomics shows that the majority of the 72 international macroeconomic experts polled believe the U.S. economy is suffering due to political uncertainty. Looking forward, economists from leading institutions around the world think that the U.S. economy will grow faster under Hillary Clinton’s plan in both the short- and medium-term. Overall, the broad Consensus among economists is that Clinton would manage the economy much better than Donald Trump.

  

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP), Infographic, USA

• Innovation in Latin America: Potential Goes Untapped Due to Weak Economic Conditions

  The weak economic performance seen this year in Latin America has accentuated the need to increase productivity as a key vehicle for more solid and sustained long-term growth. Supporting innovation is a crucial component in the productivity equation, and yet the outlook for this in Latin America is bleak: weak public finances are expected to reduce spending on research and development (R&D) even further this year. Although not all is gloomy and some gains may come from ongoing trade liberalization, Latin America will continue to lack the dynamism of its emerging-economy counterparts as little progress is expected on structural reforms that would grant all stakeholders the same opportunities to succeed.

  The consensus is crystal clear among analysts and business leaders that innovation is key to increasing output and productivity, and is a crucial driver to sustainable long-term economic growth. However, measuring innovation in national economies is always tricky: the concept is intangible and not specifically measured by central banks or national statistical institutes. Nonetheless, international agencies, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) provide guidelines on how to measure innovation, incorporating variables like expenditure on R&D, incorporation of new technology, growth in labor productivity, number of patents per capita, as well as education standards. Moreover, the policy environment is equally vital. A solid competition policy, a stable contractual environment and an agile bureaucracy are more likely to encourage new entrepreneurs to invest in start-ups and existing players to raise capital investment to grow businesses.

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  Tags: Economic Growth (GDP), Latin America

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