Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Nov 4, 2019

choi

The cover says: Continental Shift; The economy issue.

(1) the first article, which table of contents states: "Introduction; Hank Paulson on the challenges we face -- and how to overcome them."

Hank Paulson, The Shocks of the New Economy.

Quote:

"Take technology. US-China competition, such as the races for dominance in 5G and artificial intelligence, is a global challenge. Many in the US are so concerned about national security implications of technological interdependence that they argue for decoupling [with China]. such a move could have far-reaching effects, Balkanizing [Oxford's Lexico.com has the first letter capitalized, whereas merriam-webster.com in lower case] the world and stifling growth .

"Or look at global governance. Existing institutions, pacts, and agreements need to be updated to reflect today's realities. One clear example is the World Trade Organization, where successful economies like China, South Korea, and Singapore are still able to claim developing country status. This disadvantages not only other developed economies [besides US], but also the developing nations that truly need differential treatment.

"Paulson co-chairs the Bloomberg New Economy Forum advisory board.

(2) Andrea Tartar, Hannah Recht and Yue Qiu, The Global Fertility Crash.
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-global-fertility-crash/
("In the 1960s, [globally] the fertility rate was five live births per woman; by 2017 it had fallen to 2.43 [rate of replacement: 2.1] * * * While the world is expected to add more than 3 billion people by 2100, according to the United Nations, that'll likely to be the high point. * * * Population dynamics needn't be economic destiny. A study last year by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that, for most major economies, rising productivity was a more important driver of gross domestic product growth from 2000 to 2017 on average than population growth or change i the employment rate. That may not be sustainable over time, however. For most countries in the OECD study, the relative contribution of productivity to growth has fallen over time. In some countries, too high fertility may actually a drag on GDP because of higher costs. * * * To explore these demographic and economic shifts, Bloomberg analyzed data for 200 countries and focused on four that were outliers in some aspects [France, China, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, in that order (in print anyway)]. Local reporter then interviewed one [anonymous] woman in each place about the forces that were shaping her choice to have children — or not")  

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: As birthrates fall, countries will be forced to adapt or fall behind
(b) In print, (the short) text is substantially reworked, which is therefore somewhat different from the online version. Quotation above is from print; there is no need to read the rest.
(c)
(i) Please do view graphics, which are composed of four panels at the top, with the first panel carrying the heading: "Globally, women have an average of 2.4 live births each."  I am surprised that Chinese women have 1.7, which, despite the present tense of the verb in the heading, is the 2017 figure, see (e).

Also, I am surprised that (as shown in the fourth panel (as of 2017), only 42 percent of women in China age 15+ are literate. PRC was formed seventy years ag; ROC might not do a good job thanks to wars, but those born before 1949 are dying off.
(ii) 9-year Compulsory Education. Ministry of Education, PRC, undated
http://webcache.googleuserconten ... cache:mhLisKfIBZoJ:[/url]
("The nine-year schooling in primary and junior secondary schools pertains to compulsory education. * * * Since the promulgation of the 'Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China' in 1986, the nine-year compulsory education has been implemented by governments at various levels and made significant progress. According to the statistics of 2002, the net enrollment rate of primary school age children attained 98.58 percent, and the proportion of primary school graduates continuing their study in junior secondary schools (including vocational ones) reached 97.02 percent. In the urban areas of large cities and economically developed coast areas, the universalization of senior secondary education [age 16 to 18 inclusive] has been launched")
(d) Each of the four countries is evaluated (by Bloomberg) first in a larger font, followed by an interview of a woman (in ordinary font).

The first country profiled is France, whose evaluation is as follows: "Women in France may have won suffrage only in 1945, but they’ve rapidly acquired rights and status. They're now close to parity with men in income [the third panel indicates 62% and 70% for women in China and France, respectively — when measured up against men’s income in that country] and are highly educated on average. This is due partly to generous benefits such as public day cares, called crèches, that accept babies as young as 3 months."

English dictionary:
* crèche (n; etymology: Did You Know?): "1 : a representation of the Nativity (see NATIVITY sense 1) scene
2 : DAY NURSERY"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crèche

Wiktionary shows that the French noun feminine crèche has exactly the same two definitions. I choose English dictionary(above), because it has pronunciation.
(e) Read the interview in the second country in print (online, it is the third country): China. The curve underneath China has live birth rates from 5.8 in 1960 to 1.7 in 2017. Out of the 57-year span, China's live birth rates had steadily dropped decades before the strict birth control starting in 1979 (a third into the 57-year span).