Chief Economist, Aletheia Capital

Dr. Jim Walker

Jim Walker is the chief economist at Aletheia Analyst Network Limited, an independent research platform for the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining Aletheia he was the founder and chief economist at Asianomics Group an economics and strategy research consultancy company formed in late 2007. 

Before establishing Asianomics he was the chief economist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. He joined CLSA in late 1991. Over the years Dr Jim achieved numerous ‘best economist’ rankings in the Asiamoney, Institutional Investor and Greenwich surveys of fund managers. In 1995 he wrote about the prospect of Asia being forced off its de facto dollar peg “within the next two-three years”. The Asian Crisis, precipitated by the Thai baht devaluation, began in July 1997.

In recent years he is best known for forecasting the US 2007 downturn and financial sector meltdown in his series of ‘Apocalypse’ reports. He remains deeply sceptical of the prevailing wisdom in central banks’ approach to monetary policy.

Over the years he has also developed an approach to analysing Asian economies based on profit and credit cycles where the importance of investment spending as the driver of economic activity is explained.

Early in his career he worked in his native Scotland as a research fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute for Research on the Scottish Economy, and then at The Royal Bank of Scotland’s Edinburgh headquarters. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree and a doctorate in economics from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

Chief Economist

China Indicators Watchlist - Money and Credit

Asian Exports - Power Ahead Lifted By China Demand

China in the Early Stages of a Cyclical Upturn

Independent and original Asian investment research

Aletheia Capital

Aletheia Capital (HK) Ltd. (previously known as Asianomics) combines the extensive knowledge of its experienced team with technology and regulatory changes to disrupt Global Markets business in Asia. The firm is completely independent with no conflicts of interest either on Investment Banking advisory or Capital Markets execution.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

Do not buy the liberal, reform narrative about China because it isn’t going to happen. Xi Jinping is about centralising power in China and making state enterprises the champions of growth like Korea’s chaebols and Japan’s keiretsu. Asianomics correspondent on Chinese politics, Dr John Lee of the Hoover Institute, explains below. In 2013, Singapore’s revered Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew released his book One Man’s View of the World just one month before his 90th birthday. In the book, Lee Kuan Yew offered some views on a number of past and contemporary leaders in the region and the world. Most striking was what Lee had to say about Chinese President Xi Jinping who had assumed the mantle of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and therefore his country’s head of state in March 2013.In Lee’s view, Xi was a man of ‘great breadth’ and should be compared with Nelson Mandela in light of the personal hardships the Chinese leader had to overcome in his younger years. According to Lee, Xi was “reserved… always has a pleasant smile on his face,” but “has iron in his soul.” Lee’s assessment and praise of Xi is offered because to understand the current direction of Chinese political-economy requires an understanding of Xi: how he views his own leadership and standing as paramount leader of his country in the context of Chinese history. This is truer in the second term Xi era than in the era of any other Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.More than has been the case for almost four decades, we need to understand the man to comprehend what is occurring in China.

Do not buy the liberal, reform narrative about China because it isn’t going to happen. Xi Jinping is about centralising power in China and making state enterprises the champions of growth like Korea’s chaebols and Japan’s keiretsu. Asianomics correspondent on Chinese politics, Dr John Lee of the Hoover Institute, explains below. In 2013, Singapore’s revered Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew released his book One Man’s View of the World just one month before his 90th birthday. In the book, Lee Kuan Yew offered some views on a number of past and contemporary leaders in the region and the world. Most striking was what Lee had to say about Chinese President Xi Jinping who had assumed the mantle of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and therefore his country’s head of state in March 2013.In Lee’s view, Xi was a man of ‘great breadth’ and should be compared with Nelson Mandela in light of the personal hardships the Chinese leader had to overcome in his younger years. According to Lee, Xi was “reserved… always has a pleasant smile on his face,” but “has iron in his soul.” Lee’s assessment and praise of Xi is offered because to understand the current direction of Chinese political-economy requires an understanding of Xi: how he views his own leadership and standing as paramount leader of his country in the context of Chinese history. This is truer in the second term Xi era than in the era of any other Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.More than has been the case for almost four decades, we need to understand the man to comprehend what is occurring in China.

China: The Xi Era