Niels Jensen’s Absolute Return monthly newsletter raises one of the major structural impediments to growth in Europe:<\/p>\n
As [economist Woody Brock] pointed out when in London, ageing has only had a modest impact on GDP growth and inflation so far. Governments have ruined economic growth in Europe; demographics haven\u2019t. If employment laws are such that employment is virtually for life, companies stop hiring. If you can\u2019t fire, you don\u2019t hire, as Woody pointed out….<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Similar impediments are evident in Australia. If developed economies want to compete in global markets, they need to get their house in order. Raising barriers to free trade is not a sustainable alternative but will instead destroy any remaining semblance of competitiveness. Trade barriers result in a limited choice of products, forcing customers to pay higher prices and accept inferior quality. Lack of competition leads to the death of innovation. Quality deteriorates and we soon face another zombie industry dependent on government support. A prime example would be the motor industry — in Europe, North America, even Australia — over the last half-century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Niels Jensen’s Absolute Return monthly newsletter raises one of the major structural impediments to growth in Europe: As [economist Woody Brock] pointed out when in London, ageing has only had a modest impact on GDP growth and inflation so far. Governments have ruined economic growth in Europe; demographics haven\u2019t. If employment laws are such that … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Don’t blame demographics, blame the government”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,5,33],"tags":[768,1469,2806,3448,3745],"class_list":["post-13518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia-nz-countries-regions","category-economy","category-uk-europe-countries-regions","tag-competition","tag-free-trade","tag-protectionism","tag-trade-barriers","tag-zombie-industries"],"yoast_head":"\nDon't blame demographics, blame the government - the patient investor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Don't blame demographics, blame the government - the patient investor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Niels Jensen’s Absolute Return monthly newsletter raises one of the major structural impediments to growth in Europe: As [economist Woody Brock] pointed out when in London, ageing has only had a modest impact on GDP growth and inflation so far. 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The evidence is clear that, in the aggregate, this helped American workers -- and not just because Nafta and other free-trade agreements make goods cheaper and promote U.S.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Economy"","block_context":{"text":"Economy","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/economy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61534,"url":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/24\/why-trumps-tariffs-wont-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":13518,"position":1},"title":"Why Trump’s tariffs won’t work","author":"Colin Twiggs","date":"April 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary The global trading system is flawed President Trump complains that the United States is being \"ripped off\" by its trading partners The system permits countries like China to run persistent trade surpluses that damage their global trading partners This is not a design flaw but a feature The Bretton\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "China & HK"","block_context":{"text":"China & HK","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/countries-regions\/china-hk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"US Net International Investment Position","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2025\/2025-04-22-niip.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2025\/2025-04-22-niip.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.incrediblecharts.com\/images\/2025\/2025-04-22-niip.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48306,"url":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/11\/low-growth-and-high-inflation-unless-there-is-a-productivity-miracle\/","url_meta":{"origin":13518,"position":2},"title":"Low growth and high inflation unless there is a productivity miracle","author":"Colin Twiggs","date":"February 11, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Excellent Adam Taggart interview with Steen Jakobsen, CIO of Saxo Bank in Copenhagen, where he breaks down the macro issues facing developed economies. https:\/\/youtu.be\/98UFbC8hDNQ The highlights for us are: GDP growth is a functional of two variables: demographics and productivity. Demographics are a headwind as birthrates fall and populations are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Banks & Interest Rates"","block_context":{"text":"Banks & Interest Rates","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/economy\/the-fed-banks-interest-rates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/98UFbC8hDNQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6485,"url":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/14\/productivity-in-ireland-mark-cassidy\/","url_meta":{"origin":13518,"position":3},"title":"Productivity: Ireland leads the way","author":"Colin Twiggs","date":"December 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Ireland now leads the United States in labor productivity as measured by GDP (converted to USD after adjusting for purchasing power parity) to hours worked by the workforce. 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Consumers may benefit from lower interest rates but that is merely a side-effect: the real objective\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia & NZ"","block_context":{"text":"Australia & NZ","link":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/category\/countries-regions\/australia-nz-countries-regions\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepatientinvestor.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}