Home Livewire Joye pulls no punches amid soaring bankruptcies, low productivity and the zombie apocalypse

Joye pulls no punches amid soaring bankruptcies, low productivity and the zombie apocalypse

By: coolabahcap
October 3, 2023

Chris Conway from Livewire Markets writes that they say that to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

That is, if you know about a problem or situation in advance, you will better be able to deal with it when you need to.

If that’s the case, then no one could ever accuse Coolabah’s Christopher Joye of not being forearmed.

Joye has big ideas, strong opinions and makes bold claims, all of which are backed up by evidence, data, and reasoned argument.

In this wide-ranging Expert Insights interview talking all things macro, Joye highlights the issue with rising bankruptcies, the eroding savings buffer and what it means moving forward, and the problem of low labour productivity. He also shares his view on the RBA and its policy.

But perhaps his most telling comments are regarding the rise of zombie companies, something Joye has written about before on Livewire.

“Zombies are a huge issue. On our research, the share of listed firms globally that we can call zombies has risen from about 5% of companies a decade ago to double that. In fact, 10 to 15% of all firms today”, says Joye.

Joye goes on to add that Zombies are companies that don’t have enough income to service the interest repayments on their debt, and most of them will be wiped out if rates stay high for long, which is Coolabah’s central case.

Please note that this interview took place on 13 September, 2023

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