Apache has had a rather fast growth rate over the last 10 years.

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To prove this point, Johnson did a thought experiment in which he extrapolated California's historically crazy-fast growth rate into the future.

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But these supply increases are probably temporary: once employment growth stabilises, fast job growth would mean bringing the unemployment rate down further, which increases pressure on wages.

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The bigger problem, though, is the effect of fast economic growth coupled with a fixed exchange rate.

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There is nothing apocalyptic about such numbers, nor is the rate of household growth unusually fast.

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Likewise, low growth that is below trend in an economy with a high trend rate of growth (perhaps because of a fast-growing labour force or high productivity growth) will feel like a recession and will cause unemployment to rise.

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With a young, fast-growing workforce, the African subcontinent has a baseline economic growth rate three times that of the U.S. and Europe and holds the potential for 30% to 40% returns on capital.

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Most importantly, the corollary of fast economic growth is that banks must expand credit at an eye-watering rate.

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"You are not chasing very fast returns, " says Wood, "and with an increased rate of growth comes higher volatility, " but in a time when retirement ages may be getting older and pensions are decreasing, emerging markets are going to be increasingly important.

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