Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 1233 The Biggest Economic Growth Engine (Second Update, Please Subscribe)

“We have built a miracle here!”

Standing in the garden of Daming Palace, overlooking the sea of ​​lights in Chang'an, Li Yian's tone was slightly proud.

"Ah."

Li Yixuan nodded and said:

"In history books, there are many old photos of Chang'an. It's hard to believe that they were Chang'an more than a decade ago. At that time, this place was just a port town."

The history books of Nanyang are more like world history, with about 35% of the content being Chinese history, 30% being European and American history, 5% being the history of Southeast Asia and India, and the remaining 25% being the history of Nanyang. In addition to describing the historical origins of this land and the Tang people, the history of Nanyang focuses more on the construction of Nanyang.

The construction of Nanyang always inspires students’ sense of pride, because they are the first generation of Nanyang people - their fathers came to Nanyang, cut through the thorns in the tropical rainforest, and created the miracle of Nanyang with their own hands. How could they not be proud of it?

"When doing history homework, everyone always writes about many pioneering events, most of which were experienced by their fathers."

"Yes."

Nodding, Li Yian glanced at his son beside him and said:
"Many people say that Nanyang is a miracle and Chang'an is a miracle city. This miracle is the result of the joint efforts of tens of millions of Nanyang people, but we will never stop there."

After taking a puff of his cigar, Li Yian pointed to the city in the distance with his finger holding the cigar and said:
“This is just the beginning. Or rather, Nanyang is just the starting point of everything. It’s just the beginning.”

As Li Yian spoke, he walked along the garden path, and Li Yixuan followed beside him. Now, whenever he had time, he would follow his father to study.

What to learn?

Learning how to govern a country, learning all kinds of knowledge, and even theoretical knowledge such as science. In fact, in many cases, Li Yian would intentionally or unintentionally instill in him some knowledge that was ahead of the times, not just limited to science, but also many other aspects.

"We will go from Nanyang to the world. In the future... Nanyang's future is not limited to Nanyang, but we must look to the world, that is, overseas. Overseas interests are directly related to Nanyang's survival."

It’s about the survival of Nanyang!
Although his son was only fifteen years old, it did not prevent Li Yian from discussing the future of Nanyang with him. After all, from any perspective, Li Yixuan was the heir to all of this.

"Yixuan, do you know why overseas is so important to us?"

Thinking of the "population crisis" issue that has recently been discussed in society, Li Yixuan said:
“Is it because of population?”

"Correct!"

Li Yian nodded and said.

"Population is an indispensable prerequisite for economic development and a country's core competitiveness. From the perspective of industrialization, a population of 1 million is the minimum standard for maintaining industrialization.

As the times progress, industrialization develops rapidly, expansion becomes wider and wider, division of labor becomes more and more detailed, new industries continue to emerge, and more and more practitioners are needed.

In the 19th century, a total population of 3000 million was enough to support the country's industrialization, and it is estimated that several million people were engaged in industry.

In the first half of the 20th century, a total population of 5000 million was enough. For example, before World War II, the total populations of Britain, France and Germany were all around 5000 million. After the war, with the rise of industries such as automobiles, airplanes, and home appliances, these populations could no longer sustain industrialization. Without a total population of hundreds of millions, it would not work.”

In this way, Li Yian walked and chatted with his son about the importance of population.

Li Yixuan thought for a moment and said:
"Father, this is what the newspapers call 'labor shortage'."

"Yes,"

Li Yian nodded and said:
“Yixuan, during the economic development of Nanyang, the biggest problem was the shortage of labor. From 2000 to , we introduced nearly million people from Tangshan.

More than 90% of them are middle-aged workers aged 17-40, and there are 1300 million adult male workers. Their arrival has accelerated the construction of Nanyang. It can be said that without them, there would be no Nanyang today!
However, there are as many as 800 million single men among them. If their spouse problem cannot be solved, it will not only bring serious social problems, but also affect the population development of Nanyang. "

"That's why we brought in a large number of 'trainees' from Japan, South Korea and Saigon,"

Li Yixuan drew inferences from one example and said:
"By introducing trainees, we not only increased the labor force, but also solved the problem of finding spouses for men in the company, and increased the birth rate in Nanyang. This is also what the newspapers call the 'baby boom'."

The "baby boom" refers to the fact that in the past 7000 years, more than million babies were born in Nanyang. Their births directly pushed the population of Nanyang to nearly million.

"Yes, it is the 'baby boom'. The scale of the baby boom in Southeast Asia is far greater than that of any other country - because there are 1200 million couples in their prime in Southeast Asia, and the average number of children per household is 5.9. The improvement of medical standards, especially the extensive use of antibiotics, has reduced the infant mortality rate in Southeast Asia to the lowest level in the world."

In fact, the improvement of Nanyang’s medical level is thanks to Germany and Japan, especially the latter. In the past ten years, Nanyang has introduced more than 20,000 doctors and tens of thousands of nurses from Japan. Their arrival has greatly improved Nanyang’s medical level.

However, in contrast, the large-scale immigration of medical personnel has caused Japan's medical standards to seriously decline, and this... will only make the Japanese suffer for now.

It is better to make others suffer than to make your own people suffer!
"A large number of people of childbearing age, advanced medical standards, a strong desire to have children, and of course a complete infant care and protection system, all of this has led to a population explosion in Nanyang. Such a population explosion is a good thing for Nanyang, but..."

After a brief pause, Li Yi settled down, looked at his son and said:

"This has also brought about a series of problems - for example, the birth of millions of newborns each year occupies a large amount of medical resources, and the cost of childcare and education for tens of millions of infants and young children has always been a considerable expense. Last year, the government spent more than 100 billion South yuan in this regard. We spent almost 12% of our fiscal revenue on childcare and education for infants and young children..."

In fact, speaking of it, a large part of the reason why they chose to get close to the United States was that the United States was really willing to spend money. Whether it was the Relief and Rehabilitation Administration or the aid from the United States, it was hundreds of millions of dollars every year in those years. For Nanyang, it was definitely a timely help. Even until now, children in Nanyang are still drinking milk powder donated by the United States. Li Yian doesn't know whether Americans are suffering, but the milk powder donated by the United States is really delicious!
The Americans suffer a little, while the people of Southeast Asia enjoy happiness. Isn’t this a kind of happiness?

Listening to his father's story, Li Yixuan seemed to understand something and said:
"Father, this is probably why some people advocate limiting births. The cost is very high."

"Yes, 100 billion per year. It may be even more next year. In a decade or two, when the baby boomers get married, Southeast Asia will enter a new birth peak. At that time, the country's expenditure will only increase, but..."

After taking a puff of his cigar, Li Yian looked towards the city below the mountain and said:

"This is the price we have to pay for national development. Some people think that population is a burden, but they don't know that population is the biggest development dividend. Hundreds of millions of educated people will not only provide sufficient labor, but also bring a huge market."

Pointing at the city with his finger holding a cigar, Li Yian turned to his son and said:

"We are different from many countries. We are not only a production-oriented country, but also a consumption-oriented country. This consumption needs population support. What is the baby boom? It is the biggest engine of economic growth!"

“Growth engine?”

Li Yixuan said:

"But some scholars believe that the baby boom will impose a great burden on society and will take up too many resources."

Although they are only 15 years old, the Nanyang-style education does not just let the children stay in the classroom textbooks. They also pay attention to social news and express their opinions in their essays.

Li Yixuan is naturally very concerned about social news and has a certain understanding of the current debate. The reason why his father is telling him this is obviously to discuss this issue with him.

“It’s just short-sightedness. A large population may lead to poverty, but nothing is absolute. After all, modern society is not an agricultural society.

The population itself is an extremely valuable resource. As long as we improve their productivity and turn the remaining population to the industrial and service sectors, the wealth they create will be beyond people's imagination.

But they exaggerate and blame all the problems on population.”

In fact, like some so-called scholars, Li Yian has never worried about the "baby boom". After all, there is clear evidence in another world.

Just like the post-war "baby boom" in the United States promoted the economic development of the United States, as the baby boom population grew, the US economy entered a dazzling growth period. After 25, this generation of "baby boomers" in the United States gradually entered the age group over years old, and the demand for housing in the United States increased sharply, triggering the first real estate boom in the United States after World War II.

In the 20s and s, the American baby boomers drove the growth of toys, cartoons, and pop music; in the s and s, the baby boomers who entered the active marriage period drove the growth of the real estate and automobile industries; in the s and s, the baby boomers who entered the golden consumption period drove the growth of personal computers and the Internet. During this period, "the baby boomers created the largest stock market growth, housing demand, international aviation, personal computers, computer networks, and sports and leisure tools in history.

By the mid-1990s, the next generation of the earliest "baby boomers" in the United States had begun to enter the home-buying age. The "baby boomers" themselves began to enter middle age, and the wealthy began to pursue consumption of more high-end homes.

The retirement period of the "baby boomers" began in 2006, but the United States began to decline gradually. Because the baby boomers born in began to slowly enter retirement. A large number of Americans began to retire, and retired Americans sold a large number of high-risk investments such as stocks and funds, and sold their properties in the city and moved to the countryside.

The U.S. economy began to enter a recession from then on. Li Yian was not sure how many years this recession would last, but one thing was certain - the U.S. economy fell into recession because there was no second or third wave of baby boomers.

By the time those so-called population experts figured this out, it was already too late to regret. But is there any medicine for regret in this world?

No!

Whether it is the decline of the white population in the United States or the negative growth in Japan and South Korea, these are profound lessons. Nanyang must certainly learn from them.

People are the driving force behind economic growth. Without people, there can be no economic growth.

"They only see the 'squeeze' of resources by the baby boom, but how many people see the consumption brought about by 7000 million children?"

Looking back at his son, Li Yian asked:
"As parents, we always want to give our children the best. When a child is born, parents will always buy him all kinds of clothes, toys and books. If experts check, they will find that these children also drive the sales of many home appliances."

"In order to let the children sleep better, they bought air conditioners, and in order to let the children watch cartoons, they bought TV sets. Because of the increase in population and for the convenience of travel, more and more families bought a second car. Because of the large family size, they bought washing machines. Even in the kitchen, in order to make it more convenient to cook for the family, they bought many kitchen appliances. These are all consumption brought by the children. The consumption upgrade in Nanyang is largely due to the needs of children, not the needs of parents."

In fact, the first generation of immigrants who have experienced poverty are not only able to endure hardships, but are also very frugal. Even when they are provided with various guarantees in Nanyang, they are still extremely cautious in spending money.

The change in their consumption concept actually happened after they became parents. With the day-to-day promotion of film and television works, their consumption concepts changed with the birth of their children. After all, parents are willing to give their children the best. Just like in another world, many migrant workers are willing to give their children the best things they can, no matter how hard they work outside.

“…In this way, without anyone noticing, Nanyang has completed its consumption upgrade, and people’s consumption concepts have also undergone a fundamental change. In this change, Nanyang has completed the transformation from a production-oriented country to a consumption-oriented country.

So if it weren't for those kids, we wouldn't have become a consumer nation in such a short period of time."

As his father talked about the connection between children and consumption, Li Yixuan seemed to understand something. After thinking for a while, he said:
"Dad, so their worries are unfounded?"

Now he seemed to understand why his father always said that one can respect the words of experts, but one must also learn to judge for oneself.

"Um……"

After thinking for a moment, Li Yian shook his head and said:
"That's not the case. Their concerns are somewhat reasonable. From a resource perspective, without the injection of overseas resources, Nanyang would not be able to become a developed country. That's why I would say that overseas is the lifeline of Nanyang. We must do our utmost to ensure the safety of our overseas investments, because this is related to the lives of all Nanyang people - food on the table, gasoline in the car, raw materials in the factory, and so on. This is what we need to protect..."

Looking into the distance, and then glancing at his son who was almost as tall as himself, Li Yian said:
"If you don't think ahead, you'll have immediate worries. They can point out the crisis, but what we need is to resolve it through advance planning. Crisis is an opportunity in danger. The population explosion may bring us pressure, but it is also an opportunity for us..."

(End of this chapter)