Synopsis of the global economy

The UTAR Global Economics Society, the Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM), and the Belt and Road Strategic Research Centre organised an online talk titled “A synopsis of the global economy” on 13 September 2023, with the support of Icapital. The attendees were enlightened by the invited speaker, Mr Yang Qilin, who delivered the talk online via Zoom. The talk was moderated by FAM academic Dr Ooi Bee Chen.

The objectives of the talk were to enhance students’ knowledge and interest in the global economy, expose students to a career as an economist, and encourage them to understand the world around them.

Mr Yang is a chartered financial analyst (CFA) charter holder with over 15 years of experience in the investment industry. He joined the Capital Dynamics Hong Kong Office in 2023. Before that, he was the chief information officer of a Hong Kong-based family office; lead analyst of a private equity firm, and equity analyst of a French asset management company in Paris. Mr Yang also holds an M.A. in Finance from the ESCP Business School in France and a B.A. in French Literature from Shanghai International Studies University (SISU).

Mr Yang began his talk by explaining the global GDP. He then provided the definition of recession and explained that he preferred the UK definition as it was clearer. He later moved on to share about the business cycle and the great depression.

Top: Second from left: Picture of Mr Yang

Mr Yang also guided the participants through the economic indicator before he dived deeper into the topic. He then began talking about the US’ Real GDP, US Purchasing Managers’ Index, US Consumer Price Index, and US unemployment rate. He also shed some light to the participants on the ways to calculate the unemployment rate.

Moving on, Mr Yang also talked about monetary policy and fiscal policy. He also explained China’s GDP growth and GDP per capita, European Union’s GDP growth rate as well as Japan’s real GDP quarterly.

The talk ended with a Q&A session and a group photograph session.

Group photo at the end of the talk