The era of easy money has ended, and now money comes with a real cost. Business models built around zero interest rates—and services firms with exposure to those businesses—are adapting to the return of a higher cost of financing, write RSM’s Joe Brusuelas, Tuan Nguyen, Kevin Depew and Scott Reamer in the November issue of The Real Economy.
These higher capital costs will be particularly important in investment and risk decisions, specifically to rate-sensitive industries like financial services, technology and real estate.
Also in this issue, Joe Brusuelas examines what’s driving the outperformance of the U.S. economy compared to other G7 nations. Effective fiscal policies, increased productivity and strategic investments in technology and infrastructure all are playing a part. Another reason for this performance is the labor market, which is stronger than traditional figures like the unemployment rate suggest, Tuan Nguyen writes in a new analysis.