

Globalisation's retreat? - prostoalex
http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2015/06/world-economy?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/Globalisation%27sretreat?

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bcg1
I wonder if mountains of government and private debt in both developed nations
and emerging markets could be choking out trade and capital expenditures. It
also might not help that central banks around the world are in the midst of
competitive devaluation, which is nothing less than a currency war.

Incidentally the "wonder years" of global trade cited in the article are
1950-1973, which is closely aligned with the Bretton Woods agreement that
linked all currencies indirectly to gold through the US dollar, effectively
eliminating floating exchange rates. Same phenomenon occurred with the
classical gold standard after the worldwide demonetization of silver in the
1870's through the start of WWI.

[http://www.westga.edu/~rbest/finc4521/section1/powerpoint/ch...](http://www.westga.edu/~rbest/finc4521/section1/powerpoint/chap2.pdf)

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toomuchtodo
Could it be though that productivity increases can only take us so far if
consumption is (realistically) finite? This quote from near the end of the
article is telling, because you can't boost growth forever; there are limits.

"Third, the developed world in particular has a productivity problem; it needs
productivity enhancements to offset its deteriorating demographics and boost
growth."

