February 28, 2012
It is striking that the reporters can write about recommendations from the World Bank or International Monetary Fund to China about sustaining its growth, without any comment on the irony. These institutions have been making policy recommendations for six decades that have often not resulted in much growth at all. In some cases, most notably the situation of Argentina following its default in 2001, they have been astoundingly wrong. Therefore it is impressive that Washington Post can report on a set of recommendations from the World Bank to China, whose growth has averaged more than 8 percent annually over the last three decades, without ever noting this irony.
It is also worth noting that the graphs accompanying this article show that China’s productivity growth is projected to average close to 6 percent annually over the next two decades. Many news outlets (including the Post) have argued that China will face a problem supporting a larger population of retirees as its work force ages. If this productivity growth projection proves accurate, both China’s workers and retirees will be able to see their standard of living double on the next two decades, even as the ratio of workers to retirees falls sharply.
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