East Asia Econ

East Asia Today

A longer piece on Korea inflation dynamics, and a link to my podcast discussion on Taiwan. Japan consumer confidence fell sharply in March, illustrating the growth risks if the ceasefire doesn't hold. Korea Q4 FOF data show a structural rise in savings, that continues to be invested overseas.

Paul Cavey

Apr 9, 2026 • 2 min read

Public Post

Taiwan – the world's most interesting economy?

I've been arguing that Taiwan is one of the most interesting macro stories in the world right now. I had the chance to lay out some of the elements in this week's Bloomberg Asia Centric podcast.

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Korea – why is inflation so high?

GDP growth has been below the BOK's estimate of potential almost continually since 2022. And yet core inflation hasn't dropped below target, and private services inflation – a proxy for domestically generated inflation – has picked up to above 3%. Just what is going on?

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East Asia Today

Decent wage growth in Japan in February, but a terrible March EW survey; stupendous current account data in Korea, but continued equity outflows; and inflation falling in March in Taiwan, but underlying core settling at around 2%