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Friday, September 23, 2011

亞洲風暴似重演 見底絕非在今年 - 信報網站

亞洲風暴似重演 見底絕非在今年 - 信報網站

2011年9月23日

羅家聰 一名經人

亞洲風暴似重演 見底絕非在今年


正當人人都在談歐債、說OT之際,這邊廂的亞洲,已悄悄地醞釀着另一場危機。

心水清者會留意到,自8月底起,亞洲貨幣兌美元普遍大幅下挫【圖1】。是的,這拜美滙指數自當時起急速上揚所致,但是無論如何,滙價大跌對任何新興市場來講,後果皆可以很災難性,尤其這次大跌之前不少價格都曾大升,一如1998、2008年前。


亞洲央行多愛干預滙市,故滙率現價未必反映真正的升值、貶值壓力。若看遠滙,純由市場力量致使的升、貶壓力就悉數反映了。

從各亞洲貨幣兌美元的一年期遠滙自2009年3月4日聯儲局QE1美滙指數見頂(時為89.6,現約76)起的累積變幅可見,包括印尼盾、菲律賓披索及南韓圜三幣,早前實際的升值壓力比現滙所見為大【圖2】(與圖一比較即見這個結論)。八隻亞洲幣兌美元遠滙,兩年半間普遍升值兩、三成,升四至七成也有,這相當於歐羅由低位算二升上算半至兩算,升勢顯然急得不合理。

這可由這八個亞洲股市得到印證。再由2009年3月初聯儲局QE1美股見底計起,截至今年7、8月間,八地股市均累升80%至240%不等【圖3】。若對照九七亞洲金融風暴前股市自1995年11月中起急升的一段,其時累升最狂的台灣股市亦不過120%,而南韓、泰國股市更早於1994年見頂【圖4】,可見今次股市累升有過之而無不及。

樓價升埋下危機

股市如是,那樓市呢?八地當中大多沒有1997年前的樓價紀錄,就看近年,各地樓價自2002年末季見底至今普遍累升四成至一倍,印度累升三倍,僅泰國因政局動盪而例外;且升勢尤以QE後的近兩年半特急【圖5】。而這,就埋下了危機種子。

記得上次亞洲金融風暴怎形成嗎?原因很清楚的。踏入1990年代初,美國在儲貸危機仍未完全清理下挑起波斯灣戰爭,導致1990年衰退;同期西德背負了東德包袱,結果1992、93年間嚴重衰退,法國也受牽連,日本更甭說了。

此時,市場「赫然發現」亞洲(除日本)那邊風景獨好;於是,儘管1993、94年間亞洲小國也跟隨外圍調整,但1994、95年起資金便大舉湧入,炒股炒樓兼炒滙。當股樓滙等可以炒高的資產價格都炒得夠高時,大跌條件已經俱備,只欠沽空炒家。重觀上文五圖,現在其實一樣。

從來都說,在環球一體化下,週期上落不會有什麼風景那邊獨好。全球瘋狂泵水,水到就如日本海嘯,何止渠成,所有股樓滙都如汽車房屋全部一湧浮起;至於水退嘛,自然統統沖走洗得乾乾淨淨。

日本、台灣,在1980、1990年代間試過一次,大半亞洲則在1990、2000年代間再試一次。現在?整個亞洲已在2000、2010年代間試第三次。好玩嗎?好!升時當然好玩。不過玩完之後,一如「風箏」一曲:斷了線,飛得太高,跌得痛楚。別賴炒家搞亂檔,他們僅在沽壓明顯的背景下順勢而行,加多一腳而已。

資金曾大舉流入

資金流入,可從資本賬(capital account)的數字得知。任何人聲稱看到資金進出,都是吹牛;誰有本事看到所有人的戶口資金流?但資本賬就紀錄確鑿,只是後知後覺。觀圖可見,過去兩年半確有資金大舉流入【圖6】,不過這數據對未來毫無前瞻作用。君不見截至2007年底環球股市見頂之際,資金淨流入額還在居高不下?錢走如跌市,話來就來,無得看的。

要預知跌市就要用腦想,不是用眼看的。經濟年幾之前已轉差,稍經大腦都知跌市必現;要跌了才看到,就只能怪當初不肯相信大市表現終繫經濟。

利息一樣。市跌了、錢走了,利率才會抽升。過去年半,亞洲各地三個月期拆息,除印度外並無顯著異樣【圖7】。有些行走江湖多年的老行尊,也聲大大指利率難升。但事實是,通脹壓力推升長息;只要一驚,短息也會登時爆升,即整條利率曲線都升。世界就是這樣了,落雨收遮,市愈跌時息愈升。另美國狂印的銀紙在美元轉強下回流,且信貸在升(見月初「信貸好轉通脹來 樓價縱跌亦難改」一文),美國通脹只會續升,進一步帶動環球利率曲線上移,引發新一輪的資產拆倉潮,形成螺旋式的惡性循環。

緊張氣氛下利率飆升,首當其衝當然是短息。聯儲局還慌短息升壓不夠而耍什麼OT把戲,這只會催告利率曲線更趨平坦甚至逆向。而遠早於這把戲推出的兩年之前,亞洲各地十年、兩年息差已見頂回落【圖8】,意味由時起的四至六季後經濟將逆轉。觀乎2006至08年間,亞洲息差未見負數而僅是貼地(趨零),之後已見經濟大幅衰退【圖9】;今回印度、泰國、南韓、台灣、馬來西亞的息差也趨貼地,還有星州尾隨,往後局勢已不問可知。別鬧圖九還未見收縮;待按年都見縮時,已跌到不清不楚了。

近期見到有些年資尚淺的炒家寫手,純因氣氛腥風血雨或是估值便宜便呼籲撈底。那些人不知道,相反理論只會在大轉角時適用,一個熊市只適用一次。

可惜整個熊市,大部分時間(尤是後半)氣氛都血腥的,貿貿然聽這班未見過大蛇痾尿之士教路入市,輸光都未天光。過去數周,那班趕着入市的相反理論家,料已應秋風起而成大閘蟹。

購買力蠶食殆盡

至於基金經理,不論牛市熊市,天天都叫人買貨,因為你不買貨他們便失業。從管理基金的角度而言,他們斷無可能待熊市低點才將全部資金一天買光,因來不及;故其操作有必要未見底時便開始買。但身為個人管理自己有限財富,卻無必要未到底便趕買趕坐艇。一買就綁滋味難受,故傳統智慧教寧買當頭起,寧願見底後才貴買。

回顧一般熊市,通常起碼年半、兩年,即有更長(如2000至2003年)。點解呢?因經濟周期平均四年,計死數言,逆轉平均兩年;跌市見諸經濟逆轉,維時便近兩年。今回跌市始於去年11月初(宣佈QE2當日,恒指兩萬五),照數時間亦非今年見底。加上亞洲樓價大冧伊始,衰退起碼雙底,故今趟逆轉、熊市能否真的見底亦成疑問。

八千至萬一的恒指目標早成笑柄,去年指恒指若跌可見萬二、萬四恍如天方夜譚;如今驀然回首,怕且另有體會。為什麼當時會成笑柄、天方夜譚?因為世人迷信錢多,就會升市。

不過在下讀書所學的,是錢多最終將變通脹,不是升市;這毋須PhD才懂。現在錢很多了、息很低了,升市呢?去了哪?還沉醉低息錢多無跌市者,瞓醒未呢?

曾在電視節目講過多次,今次跌市會很消耗性的,猶如2000年或1976年的兩次。這三次跌有共通點,乃三次都是「餘震」──後金融海嘯、後亞洲風暴、後石油危機,跌得慢但跌得久。

不斷偷步不斷被綁,加上通脹肆虐,未來數年,購買力將被蠶食盡,游資過剩亦將不再,一如政改,一切重返基本,由哪裏開始瘋狂,就在哪裏正式收檔。

無人愛聽末日言論,在下也不例外。但只要你自己也看看數據,是客觀的數據,你也會得類似結論。見到極壞的真相,直言大家好呢,還是如那些未見過大蛇痾尿的,呼籲心口掛着勇字去當血肉長城好呢?究竟在這些日子,贏錢緊要還是輸錢緊要呢?

交通銀行(香港分行)


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Monday, September 19, 2011

China vs India Yasheng Huang: Does democracy stifle economic growth?

Yasheng Huang: Does democracy stifle economic growth?


My topic is economic growth in China and India.And the question I want to explore with you is whether or not democracy has helped or has hindered economic growth. You may say this is not fair, because I'm selecting two countries to make a case against democracy. Actually, exactly the opposite is what I'm going to do. I'm going to use these two countries to make an economic argument for democracy, rather than against democracy.

The first question there is why China has grown so much faster than India. Over the last 30 years, in terms of the GDP growth rates, China has grown at twice the rate of India. In the last five years, the two countries have begun to converge somewhat in economic growth. But over the last 30 years, China undoubtedly has done much better than India. One simple answer is China has Shanghai and India has Mumbai. Look at the skyline of Shanghai. This is the Pudong area. The picture on India is the Dharavi slum of Mumbai in India. The idea therebehind these two pictures is that the Chinese government can act above rule of law. It can planfor the long-term benefits of the country and in the process, evict millions of people -- that's just a small technical issue. Whereas in India, you cannot do that, because you have to listen to the public. You're being constrained by the public's opinion. Even Prime Minister Manmohan Singhagrees with that view. In an interview printed in the financial press of India, He said that he wants to make Mumbai another Shanghai. This is an Oxford-trained economist steeped in humanistic values, and yet he agrees with the high-pressure tactics of Shanghai.

So let me call it the Shanghai model of economic growth, that emphasizes the following features for promoting economic development: infrastructures, airports, highways, bridges, things like that. And you need a strong government to do that, because you cannot respect private property rights. You cannot be constrained by the public's opinion. You need also state ownership, especially of land assets, in order to build and roll out infrastructuresvery quickly. The implication of that model is that democracy is a hindrance for economic growth,rather than a facilitator of economic growth. Here's the key question. Just how important are infrastructures for economic growth? This is a key issue. If you believe that infrastructures are very important for economic growth, then you would argue a strong government is necessary to promote growth. If you believe that infrastructures are not as important as many people believe, then you will put less emphasis on strong government.

So to illustrate that question, let me give you two countries. And for the sake of brevity, I'll call one country Country 1 and the other country Country 2.Country 1 has a systematic advantage over Country 2 in infrastructures. Country 1 has more telephones, and Country 1 has a longer system of railways. So if I were to ask you, "Which is Chinaand which is India, and which country has grown faster?" if you believe in the infrastructure view, then you will say, "Country 1 must be China. They must have done better, in terms of economic growth. And Country 2 is possibly India."

Actually the country with more telephones is the Soviet Union, and the data referred to 1989. After the country reported very impressive statistics on telephones, the country collapsed. That's not too good. The picture there is Khrushchev. I know that in 1989 he no longer ruled the Soviet Union, but that's the best picture that I can find. (Laughter)Telephones, infrastructures do not guarantee you economic growth. Country 2, that has fewer telephones, is China. Since 1989, the country has performed at a double-digit rate every year for the last 20 years. If you know nothing about China and the Soviet Union other than the fact about their telephones, you would have made a poor prediction about their economic growth in the next two decades.

Country 1, that has a longer system of railways, is actually India. And Country 2 is China. This is a very little known fact about the two countries. Yes, today China has a huge infrastructure advantage over India. But for many years, until the late 1990s,China had an infrastructure disadvantage vis-a-vis India. In developing countries, the most common mode of transportation is the railways, and the British built a lot of railways in India. India is the smaller of the two countries, and yet it had a longer system of railways until the late 1990s. So clearly,infrastructure doesn't explain why China did better before the late 1990s, as compared with India.

In fact, if you look at the evidence worldwide, the evidence is more supportive of the view that the infrastructure are actually the result of economic growth. The economy grows, government accumulates more resources, and the government can invest in infrastructure -- rather than infrastructure being a cause for economic growth.And this is clearly the story of the Chinese economic growth. Let me look at this question more directly. Is democracy bad for economic growth? Now let's turn to two countries, Country A and Country B. Country A, in 1990, had about $300 per capita GDP as compared with Country B, which had $460 in per capita GDP. By 2008, Country A has surpassed Country B with $700 per capita GDP as compared with $650 per capita GDP. Both countries are in Asia.

If I were to ask you, "Which are the two Asian countries? And which one is a democracy?" you may argue, "Well, maybe Country A is China and Country B is India." In fact, Country A is democratic India, and Country B is Pakistan -- the country that has a long period of military rule. And it's very common that we compare India with China. That's because the two countries have about the same population size. But the more natural comparisonis actually between India and Pakistan. Those two countries are geographically similar. They have a complicated, but shared common history. By that comparison, democracy looks very, very good in terms of economic growth.

So why do economists fall in love with authoritarian governments? One reason is the East Asian Model. In East Asia, we have had successful economic growth stories such as Korea, Taiwan,Hong Kong and Singapore. Some of these economies were ruled by authoritarian governments in the 60s and 70s and 1980s. The problem with that view is like asking all the winners of lotteries, "Have you won the lottery?" And they all tell you, "Yes, we have won the lottery." And then you draw the conclusion the odds of winning the lottery are 100 percent. The reason is you never goand bother to ask the losers who also purchased lottery tickets and didn't end up winning the prize.

For each of these successful authoritarian governments in East Asia, there's a matched failure. Korea succeeded, North Korea didn't.Taiwan succeeded, China under Mao Zedong didn't. Burma didn't succeed. The Philippines didn't succeed. If you look at the statistical evidence worldwide, there's really no support for the idea that authoritarian governments hold a systematic edge over democracies in terms of economic growth. So the East Asian model has this massive selection bias, because of selecting on a dependent variable -- something we always tell our students to avoid.

So exactly why did China grow so much faster? I will take you to the Cultural Revolution, when China went mad, and compare that country's performance with India under Indira Gandhi. The question there is: Which country did better, China or India? China was during the Cultural Revolution. It turns out even during the Cultural Revolution, China out-perfomed India in terms of GDP growth by an average of about 2.2 percent every year in terms of per capita GDP. So that's when China was mad. The whole country went mad. It must mean that the countryhad something so advantageous to itself in terms of economic growth to overcome the negative effects of the Cultural Revolution. The advantage the country had was human capital -- nothing else but human capital.

This is the world development index indicator datain the early 1990s. And this is the earliest data that I can find. The adult literacy rate in China is 77 percent as compared with 48 percent in India. The contrast in literacy rates is especially sharpbetween Chinese women and Indian women. I haven't told you about the definition of literacy. In China, the definition of literacy is the ability to read and write 1,500 Chinese characters. In India, the definition of literacy, operating definition of literacy,is the ability, the grand ability, to write your own name in whatever language you happen to speak.The gap between the two countries in terms of literacy is much more substantial than the data here indicated. If you go to other sources of datasuch as Human Development Index, that data series, go back to the early 1970s, you see exactly the same contrast. China held a huge advantage in terms of human capital vis-a-vis India.

Life expectancies: as early as 1965, China had a huge advantage in life expectancy. On average, as a Chinese in 1965, you lived 10 years more than an average Indian. So if you have a choice between being a Chinese and being an Indian, you would want to become a Chinese in order to live 10 years longer. If you made that decision in 1965, the down side of that is the next year we have the Cultural Revolution. So you have to always think carefullyabout these decisions.

If you cannot chose your nationality, then you will want to become an Indian man. Because, as an Indian man, you have about two years of life expectancy advantage vis-a-vis Indian women. This is an extremely strange fact. It's very rare among countries to have this kind of pattern. It shows the systematic discrimination and biases in the Indian society against women. The good news is, by 2006, India has closed the gap between men and women in terms of life expectancy. Today, Indian women have a sizable life expectancy edge over Indian men. So India is reverting to the normal. But India still has a lot of work to do in terms of gender equality.

These are the two pictures taken of garment factories in Guandong Province and garment factories in India. In China, it's all women. 60 to 80 percent of the workforce in China is women in the coastal part of the country, whereas in India, it's all men. Financial Times printed this picture of an Indian textile factory with the title, "India Poised to Overtake China in Textile." By looking at these two pictures, I say no, it won't overtake China for a while. If you look at other East Asian countries,women there play a hugely important role in terms of economic take-off -- in terms of creating the manufacturing miracle associated with East Asia.India still has a long way to go to catch up with China.

Then the issue is, what about the Chinese political system? You talk about human capital, you talk about education and public health. What about the political system? Isn't it true that the one-party political system has facilitated economic growth in China? Actually, the answer is more nuanced and subtle than that. It depends on a distinction that you draw between statics of the political system and the dynamics of the political system. Statically, China is a one-party system, authoritarian -- there's no question about it. Dynamically, it has changed over time to become less authoritarian and more democratic. When you explain change -- for example, economic growth; economic growth is about change -- when you explain change, you use other things that have changed to explain change,rather than using the constant to explain change.Sometimes a fixed effect can explain change, but a fixed effect only explains changes in interaction with the things that change.

In terms of the political changes, they have introduced village elections. They have increased the security of proprietors. And they have increased the security with long-term land leases. There are also financial reforms in rural China. There is also a rural entrepreneurial revolution in China. To me, the pace of political changes is too slow, too gradual. And my own view is the country is going to face some substantial challenges, because they have not moved further and faster on political reforms. But nevertheless, the system has moved in a more liberal direction, moved in a more democratic direction.

You can apply exactly the same dynamic perspective in India. In fact, when India was growing at a Hindu rate of growth -- about one percent, two percent a year -- that was when India was least democratic. Indira Gandhi declared emergency rule in 1975. The Indian government owned and operated all the TV stations. A little-known fact about India in the 1990s is that the country not only has undertaken economic reforms,the country has also undertaken political reformsby introducing village self-rule, privatization of media and introducing freedom of information acts.So the dynamic perspective fits both with China and in India in terms of the direction.

Why do many people believe that India is still a growth disaster? One reason is they are always comparing India with China. But China is a superstar in terms of economic growth. If you are a NBA player and you are always being compared to Michael Jordan, you're going to look not so impressive. But that doesn't mean that you're a bad basketball player. Comparing with a superstar is the wrong benchmark. In fact, if you compare Indiawith the average developing country, even before the more recent period of acceleration of Indian growth -- now India is growing between eight and nine percent -- even before this period, India was ranked fourth in terms of economic growth among emerging economies. This is a very impressive record indeed.

Let's think about the future: the dragon vis-a-vis the elephant. Which country has the growth momentum? China, I believe, still has some of the excellent raw fundamentals -- mostly the social capital, the public health, the sense of egalitarianism that you don't find in India. But I believe that India has the momentum. It has the improving fundamentals. The government has invested in basic education, has invested in basic health. I believe the government should do more,but nevertheless, the direction it is moving in is the right direction. India has the right institutional conditions for economic growth, whereas China is still struggling with political reforms.

I believe that the political reforms are a must for China to maintain its growth. And it's very important to have political reforms, to have widely shared benefits of economic growth. I don't know whether that's going to happen or not, but I'm an optimist.Hopefully, five years from now, I'm going to report to TEDGlobal that political reforms will happen in China.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Don't believe the rumors until they deny them

賓架信唔過,點算? - 信報網站

Don't believe the rumors until they deny them
2011年9月14日

畢老林 投資者日記

賓架信唔過,點算?

畢者推介

‧內地創業板曾經集萬千寵愛於一身,被喻為有關部門「十年磨一劍」的產物。然而,在高發行市盈率、高股價和高額超募資金拖累下,有學者預期八九成企業將於五至十年內退市。鐘林在B5頁「中國股市」探討創業板的糾結。

‧內地消費市場有所謂「金九銀十」的現象,意指隨着夏去秋來,市民消費也特別疏爽。然而,今年內地樓市卻出現「銅九鐵十」的情況,樓盤展銷會異常冷清。費高在B6 頁「股海One Piece」從另類角度窺探中國經濟。

‧香港回歸十多年,經濟結構卻比以前更單一,只有地產及金融獨沽兩味。在特首發表任內最後一份施政報告前夕,筆銘分析香港經濟的問題,勉勵一眾熱血八十後要千帆並舉,以商業救港。詳見B11 頁「筆聞集」。

9月13日,周二。公眾假期不想那麼貼市,原本打算寫一些「人味」濃一點的東西,惟開機check料,第一眼看見的是The Trouble with French Banks幾隻大字。法國銀行,又是法國銀行?來之安之,就看看發生什麼事。

We can no longer borrow dollars. U.S. money-market funds are not lending to us anymore. Since we don't have access to dollars anymore, we're creating a market in euros. This is a first… We will no longer be trusted at all and no one will lend to us anymore.

以上一段引言, We代表的是法國最大銀行法巴(BNP Paribas),發言者「隱姓埋名」,只知他是行中一名高層,而將法巴在市場上借不到美元、沒有同業願意相信它等商業秘密公諸於世的,是在這名高層口中套出真言的《華爾街日報》作者Nicholas Lecaussin。

記性不壞的讀者想必有印象,一兩個月前,法巴競爭對手法興(SocGen)「畀人搞」,市場盛傳這家法蘭西第二大銀行危在旦夕,「造謠」的是英國《周日郵報》(The Mail on Sunday)。消息觸發法興股價單日暴瀉一成半,管理層高調闢謠,事件鬧大,迫使報社自承報道失實且公開致歉。疑點既已釋除,理應告一段落,惟法興以至整個法國/歐洲金融業危機,非但沒有隨着「唯恐天下不亂」的媒體還銀行一個公道而紓緩,惡化速度反而比任何人想像快,現在輪到法巴成為負面報道的主角。

誠信易毀難建

一如法興,法巴在《華日》文章觸發股價劇挫後發表聲明,否認那位不透露姓名高層所說的每一句話。似曾相識吧?當一個人、一家公司以至一個國家要信誓旦旦地證明自己可靠,這個人,這家公司或這個國家,其實早已失信於天下,否則世界一開始就不會選擇聽信謠言。這是金融海嘯發生三年以來,老畢最深刻的體會。看看2008年雷曼倒閉與2011年歐洲銀行爆煲傳聞不絕於耳前前後後,銀行股價表現何其相似【圖1】,再回想2009年滙控(005)世紀供股和2011年滙豐香港員工唔炒又炒,什麼叫「在他們否認傳言前切勿輕易信之」(Don't believe the rumors until they deny them),答案不已寫在牆上?

回顧過去三年銀行股表現,老畢還有另一番感受。銀行是一個講「信用」的行業,正所謂牙齒當金使,從【圖1】可見,2008年9月中雷曼倒閉前,歐資銀行股價普遍已跌個四腳朝天(今年同期銀行股跌幅比08年尤有過之),滙控乃當時唯一股價錄得升幅的歐資行。這或多或少跟獅子錢莊最早承認次按業務出問題,沒有隱惡揚善、彰顯較高的透明度誠信獲加分有以致之。然而,滙控這種相對出色的股價表現,在2011年歐洲銀行危機中已不復見,管理層當然可以賴大圍環境差;海嘯後滙控股價跌至33元,的確關「大圍」事,但雷曼爆煲前大笨象股價在眾錢莊中一枝獨秀,又點解釋?誠信無價,這樣看,滙控在香港裁員一事上出爾反爾,賓架不再牙齒當金使,連誠信也告破產,大笨象要做逆市奇葩,憑什麼?

「五人幫」玩轉地球

法國銀行問題愈描愈黑,愈解畫愈「論盡」,投資者聞風色變,risk on半日又risk off。話說周一晚《金融時報》刊了一則消息,指中投老總樓繼偉上周率團訪問意大利,跟意國財長商討大手購債事宜。中投買意債只聞樓梯響,未有任何實質行動,惟已足令華爾街周一尾市拗身反彈收復失地。意大利公債拍賣結果差強人意,但受中國再度充當歐洲白武士消息刺激,二手市場意債價格一度反彈(孳息回落)。可是,法巴陷困消息入市後,中國打救意大利的「喜訊」立遭淹沒,意大利二年期國債孳息急速回升【圖2】。

難怪有人說,今時今日,市場圍繞着五個人「氹氹轉」。邊五個?默克爾、奧巴馬、貝南奇、溫家寶,同埋……帕潘德里歐囉!


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