Chimerica
Chimericais aneologismandportmanteaucoined byNiall Fergusonand Moritz Schularick describing thesymbiotic relationshipbetweenChinaand theUnited States,with incidental reference to the legendarychimera.[1][2][3][4][5]Although the term is largely in reference toeconomics,there is also apoliticalelement.[6]
Origin
[edit]Historian Niall Ferguson and economist Moritz Schularick first coined the term in late 2006, arguing thatsavingby the Chinese and overspending by Americans led to an incredible period of wealth creation that contributed to thefinancial crisis of 2007–08.[7]For years, China accumulated largecurrency reservesand channeled them into USgovernment securities,which kept nominal and real long-terminterest ratesartificially low in the United States. Ferguson describes Chimerica as one economy which "accounts for around 13 percent of the world'sland surface,a quarter of itspopulation,about a third of itsgross domestic product,and somewhere over half of the globaleconomic growthof the past six years. "[8]He suggests Chimerica could end if China were to decouple from the United States bringing with it a shift inglobal powerand allowing China "to explore other spheres of global influence, from theShanghai Cooperation Organisation,of which Russia is also a member, to its own informal nascent empire in commodity-rich Africa. "[8]
The accumulation of American debt, which has been estimated at over $800 billion, suggests the two nations are intrinsically linked; the economic symbiosis prevalent between the two suggests that separation would harm both countries and be disastrous for the global economy.[citation needed]Another way to measure this integration is the trade deficit. The US trade deficit with China was $295 billion in 2011, meaning the US imported that much more goods and services from China than it exported to China. TheEconomic Policy Instituteestimated that from 2001 to 2011, 2.7 million US jobs were lost to China.[9]The concept of Chimerica supplements and/or supplantsNichibei,or the similarly constructed Japan-U.S. economic model and relationship that had been prominent in years before the development of Chimerica. The idea of Chimerica features prominently in Ferguson's 2008 book and adapted television documentaryThe Ascent of Money,which reviews the history of money, credit, and banking.[10]
See also
[edit]- Alan M. Taylor's collaboration with Moritz Schularick
- Bretton Woods II
- Chindia
- Global saving glut
- Group of Two
- Moritz Schularickon German Wikipedia
- Pacific Century
- Sino-American relations
- Chimerica,the play
References
[edit]- ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on June 13, 2010.RetrievedAugust 18,2009.
{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^Moritz Schularick (February 24, 2009)."How China helped create the macroeconomic backdrop for financial crisis".Financial Times.(subscription required)
- ^chimerica search resultsonFinancial Times
- ^Ferguson, Niall (November 17, 2008)."Team 'Chimerica'".The Washington Post.
- ^Gardels, Nathan (August 27, 2009)."Niall Ferguson: Is U.S.-China Economic Marriage on the Rocks?".Huffington Post.
- ^Hung, Ho-fung (March 2022). "Clash of Empires: From 'Chimerica' to the 'New Cold War'".Elements in Global China.doi:10.1017/9781108895897.ISBN9781108895897.S2CID247554579.
- ^Ferguson, Niall (June 1, 2009)."The trillion dollar question: China or America?".The Daily Telegraph.London.
- ^ab"What" Chimerica "Hath Wrought - Niall Ferguson - the American Interest Magazine".Archived fromthe originalon July 21, 2009.RetrievedAugust 4,2009.
- ^"U.S. trade gap with China cost 2.7 million jobs",Reuters, August 23, 2012
- ^Ferguson, Niall (2008).The ascent of money: a financial history of the world.London: Allen Lane.ISBN978-1-84614-106-5.OCLC237176823.