Rhodium Group, LLC

CalSTRS, that's Cal S-T-R-S, one of the world's largest pension investors, roughly $400 billion of assets, generate capital, a leading sustainable infrastructure investor, something like 15, $16 billion they are managing.

and Rhodium Group, a leading nonpartisan climate and energy research firm.

So again, the question here is if you could invest one more dollar in climate or when you do that, where would it remove the most CO2, most greenhouse gases? Most of us have or are required to optimize for project returns, totally get that.

we're asking here a slightly different question.

The Repeat Project at Princeton does some great work.

Um, if you want, you know, analysis, the Rhodium Group, um, does some of the best analysis.

But also look at some of the folks who are a little bit either contrary voices, kind of the moderate Dems, or, or folks on the center right who view it from that Republican perspective, like ClearPath.

And I think we're gonna need to kind of bring all those perspectives together to make compelling arguments that can attract broad support for the kind of changes we need to, to address.

The Repeat Project at Princeton does some great work.

Um, if you want, you know, analysis, the Rhodium Group, um, does some of the best analysis.

But also look at some of the folks who are a little bit either contrary voices, kind of in the moderate Dems, or, or folks on the center right who view it from that Republican perspective, like ClearPath.

And I think we're gonna need to kind of bring all those perspectives together to make compelling arguments that can attract broad support for the kind of changes we need to, to address.

And finally, we're joined by Logan Wright.

Logan is a partner and head of China market research at the Rhodium Group, a foremost expert on China's financial system and its economic outlook.

And he has a book coming out today.

As we record this, it's called Broken China, How the Economic Miracle Shattered and What it Means for the World.

Good for Japan and good for China for having all those amazing years in between.

Well, that's going to wrap up this episode of Current Account.

Thanks again to Paul Hanley from JP Morgan, Sam Sachs from New America, and Logan Wright from the Rhodium Group for joining me today.

As always, we'd love to hear your feedback on the show as we constantly look to improve and enhance the experience for you, the listener.

The path to crisis is reform.

Is the Chinese economy well and truly broken? Will China be stuck in low growth for the next decade or more? What does that mean for the industries we focus so much here on China Talk, China's military power, and for policymakers around the world? Today, we have on to discuss Logan Wright, partner at the Rhodium Group and my former boss, who, in my humble opinion, has the deepest sense of China's macroeconomic picture out of, oh my God, can I say this? Anyone following the PRC in the West, we are here to discuss his new book, Broken China, how the economic miracle shattered and what it means for the world.

Star-studded cast today co-hosting the great Brad Setzer of CFR.

Logan, welcome back to China Talk.

Second, China probably overstates its growth.

Logan Wright of Rhodium Group estimates China grew 1.5% to 2% a year from 2022 to 2025, not the officially reported 4.6%, and actual growth this year will probably be zero.

No elected leader could be indifferent to such malaise.

Xi, though, is free to pour resources into advanced manufacturing and tech that lose money and don't create jobs because he believes that will secure China and the Communist Party against outside enemies.