The last time there was global economic expansion, there were about 6.4 billion people on the planet. Fast forward to 2010 and there is more and more talk of a recovery taking root. Sings of economic growth continue to sprout throughout the world. If we do enter a period of economic growth, what will be the impact of the extra 300 million (~5%) be on the speed of said recovery/growth period? As a college freshmen, I admittedly know very little about economics. I'd figure there would probably be some strong opinions here..
Nowadays, we're called Neo Malthusians, OK? Malthus will be proven right... it's just that not unlike all other economic predictions, timing is a pain in the ass to get right. But seriously, energy and other resource constraints will be playing a greater role. It is only in the last decade or so that the rest of Asia (Japan the exception) began living the modern energy reliant life. China is selling more cars than any other country. We've now got 3-4 billion people in Asia that ultimately want to have granite countertops and a brand new SUV every 5 years. Who's going to stop them? How will that process of increasing consumption play out? I don't see an immediate collapse... just a real bumpy ride ahead of us. But I'm not ruling out a collapse either (for many other resaons.) The more likely scenario will be that more people will begin to enjoy luxuries in Asia while more people in the western world will reminisce about the "good old days." They may get kinda violent too. Lot's of strikes, demonstrations, crime, etc.... People don't give up on a good lifestyle so quietly.
Increased population and more importantly increasing number of developing countries = competition for resources
Musing from a site called Recombinant Records/ The future is easy to predict. <IMG SRC=http://slopeofhope.typepad.com/.a/6a00e00989822288330128769dcaf2970c-pi>
1) Do you attend Rutgers or Fairleigh Dickinson? 2) The impact? None. The debt incurred by the wealthier people will weigh everybody down.
NYU student, why? And I see how the debt could outweigh any benefit of more people spending money. I assumed automatically that because there are more people, there are more potential units of wealth being created. However, I think I'm discounting the fact that those additional members might not necessarily be capable of creating wealth.
1) NYU is okay. 2) You may also be assuming that each and every person has the same productive capacity. 3) You may be better off to ignore this website until after you graduate because you'll come to realize that most, if not all, of the "economics" that you are exposed to in the classroom has no relevance to the "real world".
Oh I check this webpage for the sole purpose of filing down time. The combination of perma-pessimists, hot headed arm chair pundits, (few) actual traders, and strong opinions creates one of the more entertaining trading communities on the internet. As far as NYU goes, I think its OK too. Good school, however the way outside of classroom stuff is managed is not so great. (also, I am not in stern)