The author is missing a crucial point. Any decline in working population has to be offset against productivity growth. Otherwise it means very little for overall wealth and for the ability of a society to replace traditional family based social security with a formal rights based social security system.
In my view, the potential for productivity growth in a country like China is enormous. Knowledge and skills and capital, it's all there, but it is still advantageous in many cases to use manual labour instead. With rising wages and a shortage of labour this equation will change dramatically and productivity will skyrocket.
In my view, the potential for productivity growth in a country like China is enormous. Knowledge and skills and capital, it's all there, but it is still advantageous in many cases to use manual labour instead. With rising wages and a shortage of labour this equation will change dramatically and productivity will skyrocket.