Michael Pettis

Pettis was born in Zaragoza, Spain to a French mother and an American father. His father was a geologist and civil engineer. He spent his childhood in Peru, Pakistan, Morocco and Haiti, before returning to Spain for High School. Pettis entered Columbia University in 1976.[4] He received a Masters of International Affairs (emphasis in Economic Development) in 1981 and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance in 1984, both from Columbia University.[5]

Michael began his career in 1987, joining Manufacturers Hanover (now JPMorgan Chase) as a trader in the Sovereign Debt group. From 1996 to 2001, he was at Bear Stearns as a managing director-principal in Latin American capital markets. Pettis also served as an advisor to sovereign governments on topics regarding financial management; including the governments of Mexico, North Macedonia and South Korea.[6]

Pettis is a frequent guest as an economic expert, with media appearances on news stations including CNBC, NPR, Bloomberg Radio and BBC.[7]

Pettis has long warned that heavy investment by China into infrastructure projects, at the expense of consumption, is cause for serious concern.[8] The banking sector in particular, the source of cheap loans for large infrastructure projects, has accumulated large debts both on and off balance sheet. There are only two methods by which investment, which is estimated at almost 50% of China’s GDP, would decline to a level more consistent with other Asian economies. China can either deliberately de-incentivize investment spending, at the near-term cost of slowing economic growth, or investment can continue to rise as a share of GDP until the financial system cannot absorb further increases to debt, and a financial contraction will ensue.[9]