![]() in an increasingly competitive global economy. Trainer goes a step further than Reid, arguing that the survival of zombie companies is a threat to the U.S. “The survival of zombie firms is likely a drag on productivity growth as these firms congest markets and divert credit, investment, and skills from flowing to more productive and successful firms,” he said in his 2021 study, referencing data from the BIS. To the extent that the capital is wastefully employed in these businesses that have actually never produced any real economic value, we are losing the opportunity to invest that in more productive areas.”Įchoing Trainer’s comments, Deutsche Bank’s Reid said last year that zombie companies weaken economies by minimizing the growth of firms in the industries in which they operate. “Because effectively, what a zombie stock is, is a waste of capital. “I think, long term, zombies have caused a meaningful reduction in growth and prosperity,” he said. ![]() dramatically, hurt productivity, and made the economy more vulnerable during recessions. Trainer believes that this era of speculative investing increased the number of zombie companies in the U.S. At the time, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were soaring, the IPO and SPAC markets were on fire, and meme-stock traders were pushing zombie companies’ stocks like AMC and GameStop ever higher. The speculative era hit its peak in 2021, after stimulus checks fueled a boom in retail investing, according to Trainer. homes jumped nearly 110%, while cryptocurrencies transformed into a trillion-dollar-plus asset class. And over the same period, the average sales price of U.S. The S&P 500, for example, rose more than 545% between its post-GFC low in February 2009 and its November 2021 high. It was the beginning of an era of “ free money” that put cash in the hands of speculators, who quickly turned around and bought risky financial assets, sending them to new heights. To do this, many decided to slash interest rates and institute other loose monetary policies designed to spur lending and investment. In the years following the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, central banks around the world were desperate to reignite economic growth and reduce unemployment.
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