Finance, Forex and Investments

How will America be able to compete with India and China in economy which has a huge manpower?

India's current population is 1.16 billion..It is estimated that by 2020 India would have around 0.9 billion workforce!!!!! And China also have billion plus population and huge workforce.. So, over a period of time, India and China will overtake USA in aggregate GDP (though far below in per capita)

Public Comments

1. Yes, we'll still be able to compete. Just as Japan is the second largest economy right now and competes fairly well. It's just that we won't be number 1 anymore.
2. how about worrying about climate change, plastic garbage, etc.instead which are going to destroy the earth in the near future. or the current growth may drop and disappear for all the countries in the world.
3. It can't... If America goes down the path of a "Labor Based" economy (such as the Unions Want), we can forget about economic recovery. We cannot compete in a world of cheap physical labor. America MUST educate its workforce for a Service Based economy built around High Tech.
4. Alby is right, America can never compete with China, as China has a near endless supply of labour and it's able to produce goods cheaper than America ever could even if the US abolished minimum wage and banned unions. America and Western countries must educate themselves and instead of making what goes in the box but rather designing what goes in the box, China can replicate any production technique, it can't replicate new ideas and technologies without first buying the idea first
5. Not true. Have you been to India? They are at the very least 20 years behind China in technology, education, infrastructure, as well as governance. Though I wouldn't discount India as a competitor to the United States, I would say don't worry about them for now. The relationship between USA and China is complicated, but a positive one. Remember about 30 years ago, the two "superpowers" of the world were USA and USSR? Well that relationship was far worse then USA and China. Over the next 10-20-30 years, I think you will start to see USA importing a lot of goods, services, and raw materials to China. Because it's well known, that China will morph into a consumer market within a decade or two gradually. And the Americans will spend at least a decade to save, work hard, innovate, and pay down their debts. Just because China's doing good, doesn't mean USA is going down. Try to see the picture from the outside. USA and China can grow together, and thats exactly how the relationship is shaping. ps pradnya m how old are you? did you know that the tree huggers have been saying global warming for the past 30 years? the world is actually getting colder! garbage problem yes, but the world will correct itself gradually, you can't just change over night.
6. compete for what ? ultimate goal of every economy is welfare of it's citizen. GDP ? development and GDP are two different poles . Development means higher living std and income equality. cheap labour ? economics is about productivity . a single innovation can change productivity. it is capital / head that measures productivity . world's cheapest labor ( taking productivity in account) is in Germany. Try looking any labor productivity vs cost data china can cross US in GDP within 30 years , but china do not have developed capital market so it will have to depat leastUS market to raise fund in US currency . it will take at-least 80 -100 years for china to become economic giant . US $ may be taken over by euro within 30-40 years . so after 40 yrs or so EU will be economic giant.
7. What 1 American worker is doing with the help of automation, 50 Indian workers do manually. So population is irrelevant in GDP growth in the long run. GDP is a measure of output. Output depends on input. Capital and education are essential inputs that China and India lack. It also means prolonged low productivity breeds corruption as a way of life making the national institutions resistant to change. An Indian baby since birth has to be fed, bathed, sheltered, clothed, educated and cared for at least a couple of decades before it turns out to become a working man. So for the first 2 decades, the baby is a liability, not an asset for the national economy. That's why population growth has to be contained. More likely Chinese and Indians will be pushed to unprecedented famines, civil wars and chronic debt like Africa. Also note: In 1900, Indian GDP was 10 times that of California. In 1950, Indian GDP was on par with California. In 2000, Indian GDP was 33 per cent that of California. But in 2008, Indian GDP was 66 per cent that of California. Looks like a bubble, isn't it? Indian leadership has refused to cap emissions standards. It shows resistance to change due to strong mining lobby.
8. We should make a western alliance, Europe and the USA, we should NOT import millions of Muslims as a way of increasing population which is what American, UK and European governments have done