At G-20, Warsh Says Global Economy Faces New Period of 'Secular Growth' -- WSJ

By Nick Timiraos

Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh told a meeting of global economic policymakers on Monday that the economic assumptions of the past two decades no longer hold. Secular stagnation, the idea that the world had run short of investment opportunities, is "a past long ago," he said. "The new period is one of secular growth." The global savings glut, in which capital sat on the sidelines, has become "a global investment surge," he said.

Warsh addressed the meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bankers in Asheville, N.C., alongside Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Warsh's comments echoed similar observations he made last week in a keynote address, where he said he would be hard-pressed to call financial conditions restrictive. The argument could bear on the debate he is refereeing inside the central bank over whether and how much to raise interest rates.

Warsh asked the assembled economic policymakers whether the growth in their countries looks cyclical or structural. The answer matters because demand outrunning the economy's capacity to supply goods and services calls for tighter policy. A genuine rise in what an economy can produce doesn't, though it means today's rate is doing less to restrain activity than it would have in the past.

Ahead of a separate discussion of growth later on Monday, Warsh framed the question around productivity. He cited the Congressional Budget Office's projection that U.S. growth will run near 1.8% a year over the next decade and asked whether the current investment boom would push it higher. Economists have wrestled with how productivity might lift the economy's speed limit at the same time that an aging workforce and declining immigration rates could move in the opposite direction.

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 31, 2026 14:49 ET (18:49 GMT)