Global recovery … it’s a girl thing The Chinese preference for male babies is at least half responsible for the GFC, according to two US researchers, so fund managers wanting to tap into Chinese domestic savings will have to work hard on influencing social customs that favour the XY over the XX factor. In China, parents with one son are saving to boost his chances of attracting a wife, in a country where males outnumber females 122 to 100 [the highest mismatch in the world]. Research by Shang-Jin Wei, Columbia University, and Xiaobo Zhang, of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington DC, shows that this higher savings’ rate – up to half of income – occurs in all regions of China, but particularly in areas with the most skewed sex ratios. The researchers calculate this male-dowry factor accounts for half the increase in China’s savings in the past 25 years, which has boosted the country’s current account surplus, and thus contributed to all the cheap money sloshing around which lead to the sub-prime crisis, and ultimately the GFC. So, Asian equities desks face a much more complicated theme than merely backing efforts to boost China’s domestic consumption – they have to help the Chinese start loving their baby girls again. We’re doing our bit to help.