Is China's demography China's destiny? A chat with former World Bank economist Bert Hofman
Sinica Podcast25 Jan 2023

Is China's demography China's destiny? A chat with former World Bank economist Bert Hofman

When the National Bureau of Statistics recently revealed that China's population had shrunk in 2022 for the first time in 60 years, conventional wisdom predicted that China was headed for catastrophe, as its workforce shrank, its pension coffers dried up, and its healthcare system grew overtaxed. Not so fast, says Bert Hofman, who spent 22 years in Asia with the World Bank, focused chiefly on China. Now a professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Government at the National University of Singapore, Bert offers a deeply-informed take on the challenges China does face — and how it might address them without suffering economic stagnation.

4:24 – Why population decline isn’t necessarily bad

5:55 – Why are low birth rates a challenge for China?

7:49 – How China can offset the “demographic tax” of population decline

13:40 – Is declining investment such a bad thing for China?

18:27 – Common prosperity and the pension system

23:45 – Challenges and solutions for healthcare reform

27:41 – The logic of beginning with fiscal reform

33:18 – The shortfalls of focusing on raising fertility rates

38:06 – What can China learn from other countries?

A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com

Recommendations:

Bert: China Reconnects by Wang Gungwu; The Last of Us on HBO Max

Kaiser: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead


See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(544)

Kyle Chan on the Great Reversal in Global Technology Flows

Kyle Chan on the Great Reversal in Global Technology Flows

This week on Sinica, I speak with Kyle Chan, a fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, previously a postdoc at Princeton, and author of the outstanding High-Capacity Newsletter on Su...

18 Feb 1h 21min

Brookings' Patricia Kim Takes Stock of Trump's Second-Term China Policy

Brookings' Patricia Kim Takes Stock of Trump's Second-Term China Policy

This week on Sinica, I speak with Patricia Kim, a Fellow at the Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center, where she focuses on U.S. policy toward China and the broader Asia Pacific. One y...

11 Feb 1h 4min

Uneasy Calm: Ryan Hass on Three Pathways for U.S.-China Relations Under Trump

Uneasy Calm: Ryan Hass on Three Pathways for U.S.-China Relations Under Trump

This week on Sinica, I speak with Ryan Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings and one of the most clear-eyed analysts of the U.S.-China relationship working today. Ryan was d...

4 Feb 1h 3min

Afra Wang on "The Morning Star of Lingao" (临高启明) and the Rise and Reckoning of China's "Industrial Party"

Afra Wang on "The Morning Star of Lingao" (临高启明) and the Rise and Reckoning of China's "Industrial Party"

This week on Sinica, I speak with Afra Wang, a writer working between London and the Bay Area, currently a fellow with Gov.AI. We're talking today about her recent WIRED piece on what might be China's...

28 Jan 1h 24min

The Highest Exam: Jia Ruixue and Li Hongbin on China's Gaokao and What It Reveals About Chinese Society

The Highest Exam: Jia Ruixue and Li Hongbin on China's Gaokao and What It Reveals About Chinese Society

This week on Sinica, I speak with Jia Ruixue and Li Hongbin, coauthors of The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China. We're talking about China's college entrance exam — dreaded and feared, with ou...

21 Jan 1h 15min

Daniel Bessner on American Primacy, Cold War Liberalism, and the China Challenge

Daniel Bessner on American Primacy, Cold War Liberalism, and the China Challenge

This week on Sinica, I speak with Daniel Bessner, the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Assistant Professor in American Foreign Policy at the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the Univer...

14 Jan 1h 3min

Eric Olander: After the Maduro Capture — Assessing China's Real Exposure in Venezuela

Eric Olander: After the Maduro Capture — Assessing China's Real Exposure in Venezuela

This week on Sinica, in a joint episode with the China-Global South Podcast, I speak with Eric Olander, host of the China Global South Podcast and founder/editor-in-chief of the China-Global South Pro...

8 Jan 1h 10min

Michael Brenes and Van Jackson on Why U.S.-China Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy

Michael Brenes and Van Jackson on Why U.S.-China Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy

This week on Sinica, recorded at Yale University, I speak with Michael Brenes and Van Jackson, coauthors of The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy. Their ...

2 Jan 1h 2min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
pengepodden-2
pengesnakk
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
rss-politisk-preik
utbytte
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
finansredaksjonen
lederpodden
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
rss-markedspuls-2
liberal-halvtime
rss-sunn-okonomi
rss-pa-konto