Most recent
Gavekal Dragonomics
Rethinking Technology Funding
Tilly Zhang
3 Jul 2025
China’s government is rethinking how it will fund the next round of technological development. Tilly argues that policymakers want to move away from the decentralized model that relied heavily on local authorities, and toward a more centralized system in which financial institutions play a bigger role. The intended result of that shift is not a big increase in overall funding, but a more disciplined and controlled process.
Gavekal Dragonomics
How Long Will The Auto Price War Last?
Ernan Cui
1 Jul 2025
China’s policymakers want to put an end to the auto industry price war. But Ernan argues that their measures do not address a fundamental reason for the falling prices: too many auto companies and too much investment. Struggling automakers are slow to exit the market thanks to ample access to state and private-sector financing, meaning the auto price war will probably continue for at least another couple years.
Gavekal Dragonomics
Next Steps For Stimulus
Wei He
27 Jun 2025
China’s policymakers have not introduced major new stimulus measures since the US-China trade ceasefire was reached in mid-May. But Wei argues that the possibility of some fiscal support running out in the second half of the year—as well as continued risks in the export and property sectors—means that officials are likely to deliver more stimulus in the coming months.
Gavekal Research
Webinar: Pricing Another Middle Eastern War
Tom Holland, Udith Sikand, Cedric Gemehl
26 Jun 2025
Investors last week seemed to be betting that the United States would hold off on directly attacking Iran. Now, after the weekend’s US airstrikes and Trump's push for a ceasefire, are all parties really ready to cease hostilities? Or is this just the start of a regional war in the Middle East that could severely disrupt oil supplies and spark a surge in the crude price? Our team assesses the latest developments on the ground and consider the vulnerabilities of the major economic regions should the worst occur and the price of oil skyrocket.
Featured report
Gavekal Dragonomics
Testing The Limits Of Industrial Policy
Thomas Gatley
20 Jun 2025
China’s lavishly subsidized industrial policy has delivered some substantial achievements in key technology sectors. But the costs of that strategy started to become more apparent in 2024, Thomas argues in his annual chartbook on the state of the corporate sector. A strategy that relentlessly expands supply while leaving domestic demand weak results in steady erosion of margins and profitability, which will make it harder for firms to continue to push the technological pace.
Gavekal Dragonomics
Consumer Lending Is In Trouble
Xiaoxi Zhang
Webinar: Will Chinese Outperformance Continue?
Louis-Vincent Gave, Charles Gave, Russell Napier
Negotiating From Strength
Thomas Gatley
Testing The Limits Of Industrial Policy
Thomas Gatley
Assessing The Consumption Push
Andrew Batson
Growth After The Trade Truce
Wei He, Dragonomics Team
Webinar: China's Economic Strategy Amid Trade Conflict
Arthur Kroeber, Andrew Batson
After London, What’s The Deal Space?
Arthur Kroeber
Gavekal Dragonomics
Securing The Western Frontier
Tom Miller
16 Dec 2021
China looks like a winner from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, now free to tighten its grip on Central Asia. In this DeepChina report, Tom explains the complex reality of the latest round of the "great game." China is getting closer to Russia, skeptical of Afghanistan and Pakistan, and consolidating its economic hold on Turkmenistan.
Policy and the cycle
Next Up: Monetary Policy
Unless something changes radically in the next few days, China is facing a major growth shock from the US imposition of massive tariffs. The question now is how China’s government will respond to intensifying growth fears. Wei argues that the first step should be an easing of monetary policy, and possibly more direct intervention from the central bank in financial markets.
The PBOC’s Aggressive Governor
The People’s Bank of China has been busy over the past year as its new governor, Pan Gongsheng, has overseen multiple interventions in financial markets and attempted risky policy changes. Wei argues that Pan’s aggressive policymaking style, along with a green light from top policymakers for more easing, means the chances of a large interest-rate cut are rising.
The Case For Monetary Policy
China’s pivot to economic stimulus was led by the central bank, but most pundits have been dismissive: monetary policy doesn’t matter, they said, what matters is whether there is going to be a big fiscal stimulus. In this piece, Andrew asks: what if the current obsession with a massive fiscal package is wrong, and the real problem is with monetary policy? What if China’s economy needs not another injection of debt-financed public spending, but simply for lower interest rates to work?
Stocks
Gavekal Dragonomics
A User's Guide To The Chinese Stock Market
Thomas Gatley
2 Apr 2019
China’s onshore equity markets are now large and accessible enough that they can no longer be ignored by foreign investors—but idiosyncratic enough that they are hard to understand. This in-depth DeepChina report explains the fundamentals: What is there to invest in? Who owns the market? How can foreigners invest? How is the market regulated?
Bonds
Gavekal Dragonomics
A User's Guide To The Chinese Bond Market
Wei He, Xiaoxi Zhang
30 Jun 2021
The expansion and opening of China’s onshore renminbi bond market is one of the biggest changes to the structure of global financial markets in recent years, one that investors are still grappling with. In this comprehensive 30-page DeepChina report, our analysts present a guide to the nature and functioning of this important market.
Technology
Rethinking Technology Funding
China’s government is rethinking how it will fund the next round of technological development. Tilly argues that policymakers want to move away from the decentralized model that relied heavily on local authorities, and toward a more centralized system in which financial institutions play a bigger role. The intended result of that shift is not a big increase in overall funding, but a more disciplined and controlled process.
The New Technology Hubs
A surprising aspect of China’s recent run of technological successes—like its booming exports of electric vehicles, highly competitive artificial-intelligence models, and increasingly sophisticated domestic semiconductor sector—is that they are not all concentrated in the traditional centers of Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. In this piece, Tilly profiles three of the new technology hubs emerging across China, in places far from the global spotlight.
The Next Big Fund
China’s government has announced plans for a RMB1trn national venture-capital fund, putting yet more state money into its commitment to high-tech development. The proposed fund’s size and structure are similar to the “Big Fund” launched a decade ago to accelerate the development of the semiconductor sector. But as Tilly explains in this piece, the goal this time is even more ambitious: to jump-start an ecosystem of hard-tech startups.
Property
State Developers Start To Stabilize
China’s housing sales have broadly stabilized for almost a year now. Does that mean the worst is now over for developer finances? Xiaoxi argues that for private-sector developers, which have suffered the most, probably not quite yet. But for state-owned developers, some financial stabilization is now in sight.
Substituting For Secondary Housing
China’s new-housing sales have stabilized, and policymakers have vowed to cut interest rates. Does this combination mean a meaningful rebound is ahead? Xiaoxi argues that the answer is probably not, as the relentless shift in demand towards the secondary market means rate cuts might mostly just boost sales of existing units.
Housing Inventories Diverge
China’s property-market downturn is entering its fifth year with little sign of recovery—except in the megacities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Xiaoxi argues that a recent sales bump has not been enough to clear the inventory overhang in the mass of other cities, and a policy to tackle the problem is being implemented at a glacial pace, creating a divergence in the property market.
Gavekal Dragonomics
Behind The Incredible Export Boom
Thomas Gatley
Chinese export growth ostensibly continues to outpace the rest of the world this year, but Thomas believes this could in part be due to misleading data. Exporters have been incentivized to reduce their under-invoicing, which has in turn materially inflated China’s export growth over the past three years.
Managing Covid
The Chinese Consumer In 2023
The Invisible Second Wave
Shanghai Seminar — April 2023
The Reopening Recovery Is On Track
Macro Update: Reversal, Reopening, Recovery
Webinar: China’s Covid Surge And The Reopening Rally
Latest webinars
Webinar: Pricing Another Middle Eastern War
Investors last week seemed to be betting that the United States would hold off on directly attacking Iran. Now, after the weekend’s US airstrikes and Trump's push for a ceasefire, are all parties really ready to cease hostilities? Or is this just the start of a regional war in the Middle East that could severely disrupt oil supplies and spark a surge in the crude price? Our team assesses the latest developments on the ground and consider the vulnerabilities of the major economic regions should the worst occur and the price of oil skyrocket.
Webinar: Will Chinese Outperformance Continue?
The meeting focused on China's economic performance, global influence and potential future scenarios. The panelists debated the potential of the renminbi as a reserve currency, China's economic model and capital controls, and the implications of China's debt situation for global markets.
Webinar: China's Economic Strategy Amid Trade Conflict
China and the US are talking again, after the first phone call between Presidents Trump and Xi since Trump took office. But the path toward a substantive trade agreement is strewn with boulders. Arthur Kroeber and Andrew Batson discussed how China will handle the trade talks, what it will do to support its economy, and how seriously we should take its policy pivot towards more consumption-led growth.