Fisher: Demographics Won’t Demolish China’s Economy

Demographic doom looms! That cry from panicky pundits reverberates across the West. Sour cynics say China’s birth rates are nowhere near high enough to support strong, long-lasting population and economic growth. They foresee a future of labor shortages crippling businesses, and a dwindling workforce, or the government, going broke caring for a sea of old folks. All of it, they say, makes for a demographic time bomb set to torpedo Chinese growth — and stocks. Nonsense. Demographic fears are ancient history to markets and utterly illogical. Populations getting older are a sign of progress, not a harbinger of woe. Let me explain.