Chief Economist, Aletheia Capital

Dr. Jim Walker

Jim Walker is the chief economist at Aletheia Analyst Network Limited, an independent research platform for the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining Aletheia he was the founder and chief economist at Asianomics Group an economics and strategy research consultancy company formed in late 2007. 

Before establishing Asianomics he was the chief economist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. He joined CLSA in late 1991. Over the years Dr Jim achieved numerous ‘best economist’ rankings in the Asiamoney, Institutional Investor and Greenwich surveys of fund managers. In 1995 he wrote about the prospect of Asia being forced off its de facto dollar peg “within the next two-three years”. The Asian Crisis, precipitated by the Thai baht devaluation, began in July 1997.

In recent years he is best known for forecasting the US 2007 downturn and financial sector meltdown in his series of ‘Apocalypse’ reports. He remains deeply sceptical of the prevailing wisdom in central banks’ approach to monetary policy.

Over the years he has also developed an approach to analysing Asian economies based on profit and credit cycles where the importance of investment spending as the driver of economic activity is explained.

Early in his career he worked in his native Scotland as a research fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute for Research on the Scottish Economy, and then at The Royal Bank of Scotland’s Edinburgh headquarters. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree and a doctorate in economics from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

Chief Economist

Independent and original Asian investment research

Aletheia Capital

Aletheia Capital (HK) Ltd. (previously known as Asianomics) combines the extensive knowledge of its experienced team with technology and regulatory changes to disrupt Global Markets business in Asia. The firm is completely independent with no conflicts of interest either on Investment Banking advisory or Capital Markets execution.

Macroeconomics

<ul>
<li>Chinese monthly data for July were released earlier in the week, retail sales, industrial production, fixed asset investment and property investment numbers were all pretty soft. The retail sales number was running at 0.2% YoY, industrial production was at 4.5% while sitting around 5% to 5.5% for most of the year previously and fixed asset investment continued to contract.</li>
<li>Japan released its GDP numbers for the second quarter which came in at 1.1%, half analysts’ expectations which were for an annualized increase of 2%. The story gets worse because if we dive into investment, which is the focus of our attention when it comes to the GDP numbers, gross fixed capital formation was down 1.2% year on year.</li>
<li>I announced my retirement as Chief Economist at Aletheia Capital in a WeeBits note this week. The jacket will be hung up at the end of September. I would do some Substack work for anyone who might be interested in hearing about Asia in the future.</li>
</ul>


Chinese monthly data for July were released earlier in the week, retail sales, industrial production, fixed asset investment and property investment numbers were all pretty soft. The retail sales number was running at 0.2% YoY, industrial production was at 4.5% while sitting around 5% to 5.5% for most of the year previously and fixed asset investment continued to contract.
Japan released its GDP numbers for the second quarter which came in at 1.1%, half analysts’ expectations which were for an annualized increase of 2%. The story gets worse because if we dive into investment, which is the focus of our attention when it comes to the GDP numbers, gross fixed capital formation was down 1.2% year on year.
I announced my retirement as Chief Economist at Aletheia Capital in a WeeBits note this week. The jacket will be hung up at the end of September. I would do some Substack work for anyone who might be interested in hearing about Asia in the future.


Walker’s Weekly: Dr. Jim's Summary of Key Global Macro Developments - 21 Aug 2026