Bloomberg
Haunted by 2008, China and U.S. Diverge on Stimulus Plans
(Bloomberg) — The U.S. and China are pursuing divergent economic policies in the aftermath of the coronavirus recession in a role reversal from last time the world economy was recovering from a shock.One of the takeaways from the annual National People’s Congress under way in Beijing is a conservative growth goal, with a tighter fiscal-deficit target and restrained monetary settings. That’s a big contrast with Washington, where President Joe Biden is preparing a second major fiscal package after he gets final approval for his $1.9 trillion stimulus.The widening policy divergence is putting strains on exchange rates and could potentially reshape global capital flows. It stems, in part, from different policy lessons from the 2007-09 crisis.A stunted and choppy U.S. recovery left key Democrats concluding it’s vital to “go big” on stimulus and keep it flowing. For monetary policy the moral was: “Don’t hold back” and “don’t stop until the job is done,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last week.China’s leaders have a different take. A massive unleashing of credit growth back then led to unused infrastructure, ghost towns, excess industrial capacity and an overhang of debt. While rapid containment of the pandemic meant the economy didn’t need as much help in 2020, President Xi Jinping and his team are now winding things back to re-focus on longer-term initiatives to strengthen…
