Monday, March 21, 2016

Rogoff: "....global population in long-term decline..."????

Kenneth Rogoff here:
Some say that governments did not do enough to stoke demand. Although that is true, it is not the whole story. The biggest problem burdening the world today is most countries’ abject failure to implement structural reforms. With productivity growth at least temporarily stuck in low gear, and global population in long-term decline, the supply side, not lack of demand, is the real constraint in advanced economies.
Perhaps he means the "global population of the advanced economies" (whatever that means)?
Even restricted to what the UN calls "more developed regions", a population decline begins in 25 years from now, if it ever does.  It is hard to imagine that quarterly-results-obsessed US industry is thinking that far ahead.  But I'm not an economist, let alone a very sharp and respected one.

From a United Nations website: