>>515126573
japan
>resource-poor island with a population much smaller than the US.
>occupied by US military and is dependent on America for its protection, America used its tremendous influence to persuade japan to commit economic suicide via Plaza Accord which made the Yen appreciate drastically
>relies on stock market as a significant and central driver of economic activity. this meant that during the lost decade, the Yen appreciated drastically and it led to an to an asset bubble that tanked their stock market and real state market, both of which japan was not prepared for.
>Japan’s deflation commenced when it was the most expensive economy in the world - $100 cantaloupes in Tokyo in 1990. Japan deflation was caused by demand shock.
>Japan grew old when AI/highly sophisticated automation wasn't a thing.
china
>4x the population of the us, of similar geographical size as the US
>has cheap energy from coal (and now green energy), the world's largest agriculture producer, has nukes.
>rich in critical resources like rare earth metals with a monopoly on rare earth metal refinement
>does not rely on stock market, gets capital primarily from state bank loans and government funding
>real estate bubble intentionally popped by the government so it could manage it better. basically a controlled demolition to pop the prices to more affordable levels and limit runaway speculation.
>china's deflation comes from being the cheapest economy in the world due to advancement in productivity and scale of supply chain. china's deflation is caused by supply shock. exact opposition situation from japan. See picrel
>The most brvtal trvthnvke is that everything aligned perfectly for China.Its demographic dividend (large young population) swept up the manufacturing on the planet in the 90s-2000s. Their hyper-industrialization now will facilitate their fourth industrial revolution of automation and artifical intelligence as their blue collar force is retiring over the next decades.