Katrine Kielos-Marçal, author and global economic commentator for the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, highlights in particular the need to understand the expected shift in wealth from men to women in the coming decades and how this will affect economies around the world.
At the same time, Kielos-Marçal, who will be the keynote speaker at this year’s ACT Annual Conference, observes how the price of peace will have an impact on economic growth, together with the price of energy and the price of money and time.
“The economic rise of women in the economy and a big wealth shift that is coming from men to women as a result of demographical change – with women living longer alongside changes in the labour market – will put money in the hands of women at unprecedented levels,” Kielos-Marçal says. “If you look at the world’s largest economy, the US, half the nation’s wealth is held by the baby boom generation, so over the next 20 years, this wealth will shift to women as they live longer. They will be managing it and handling it differently to men. This wealth will then be handed down to younger generations, many of whom will, for many demographical reasons, be single women.”
Kielos-Marçal adds that by 2030, women in the US are expected to be managing $30tn, an amount she describes as unprecedented. Therefore, understanding how women manage this wealth will become increasingly important in predicting the economic pathway.
The economic rise of women in the economy and a big wealth shift will put money in their hands at unprecedented levels
This issue is explored in her latest book, Mother of Invention: How Good Ideas Get Ignored in an Economy Built for Men, which investigates how gender bias can hold innovation back in the economy. In it, she explains why it took more than 5,000 years to attach wheels to a suitcase, as well as why the production of electric cars was halted because they were considered too feminine.
“How come we put a man on the moon before we could put wheels on a suitcase?” she asks. She also raises the issue of how women have difficulty accessing capital and the economic costs of gender bias. “The transfer of wealth from men to women will help, plus the increasing number of consumer decisions that are influenced by women. But even though women are the world’s most powerful consumers, this is still not kept in mind as much as it should be.”
However, this shift comes against a backdrop of global economic and geopolitical uncertainty. Kielos-Marçal paints a picture of shifts in the price of peace, energy and money, and how these three are combining to create a far from normal change in economic weather. “The global economy needs peace,” she says, “and it is a price that will need to be paid to maintain trading relationships. The European project used to be about trading with its neighbours, which would create security through increased economic cooperation, but that has not proven to be the case over the last two years.”
She adds that the price of energy has risen, but that “we could have a breakthrough that could see prices drop”, and that the global economy is now firmly out of the era of cheap money.
“These are the real fundamentals, and we are going through a profound shift. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to think of this as just a change in economic weather.
“The geopolitical uncertainty isn’t going away, you need to plan for this, have your own ideas of what the big shifts will be, and how you can be on the right side of those shifts.”
Katrine Kielos-Marçal will be speaking at the ACT Annual Conference in Liverpool on 21-22 May. Find out more information and book your place at the conference.
Philip Smith is editor of The Treasurer
