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Why do Chinese households start saving at just $8 a day, when in the US that threshold is closer to $60? And what would it take for China's 1.4 billion people to spend more?

In this episode of Data Talks, we're joined by Dr. Bert Hofman, a leading expert on East Asia who spent decades at the World Bank and lived and worked in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore. Bert first arrived in Beijing in 1992, when China's income was around $1,000 per person and the city streets went dark at night to save energy. He has followed the country's transformation ever since.

In this conversation, we explore:

• How reform, WTO entry, and investment in education and technology turned China into a manufacturing superpower
• Why Chinese households save around 35% of their income, and why companies keep their profits rather than paying them out
• The role of housing, the property slump, a thin safety net, and culture in keeping savings high
• Realistic policy paths to boost consumption, from healthcare and education to faster net-zero investment
• Why China's consumer market will keep growing through 2035–2040, and what demographics mean beyond that
• The BYD and Xiaomi story: how China's manufacturing ecosystem gets a car from idea to road in about 18 months
• What it all means for Europe, and why Bert's favorite number is "one"

Whether you run a business with exposure to China or simply want to understand one of the forces shaping the global economy, this is a conversation full of data, history, and perspective.

👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with someone who follows China or global markets.

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Data Talks is produced by World Data Lab, bringing global data to life through insights, conversations, and stories that matter.

Join Data Talks

From Algebra to Architecture, with Jim Ellis

In this episode of Data Talks, we sit down with Jim Ellis, math teacher at the American International School of Vienna and author of "Educators as Designers," to explore how his background in architecture reshaped his approach to teaching math. Jim walks us through the parallels between architectural design and effective data-informed instruction, and how that lens has shaped a career built around curiosity and critical thinking.

We dig into the World Insights Challenge, the global math competition Jim co-leads with Kat Petra from the International School of Amsterdam, where students from around the world use real data to explore questions tied to the SDGs, building original visualizations that matter to their own communities.

Jim also opens up about AI's growing role in education: its potential to identify learning needs like dyslexia and dyscalculia far faster than humans can, and the coming shift away from homework toward classrooms as spaces for live, creative learning. He paints a picture of what math class could look like for the next generation, one where students lead their own discovery rather than simply absorb instruction.

We close things out, as always, with Jim's favorite number: 360, and the surprisingly rich history behind it.

🔗 Learn more at worlddatalab.com
Data Talks is produced by World Data Lab, bringing global data to life through insights, conversations, and stories that matter.

Join Data Talks

Payments Are About People: Innovation from the Digital South

What does a journalist turned payments executive see that others miss? In this episode, Wolfgang Fengler sits down with Estelita Haas, Head of Market Intelligence and Product Marketing at Ebanx, a fast-growing Brazilian fintech unicorn now operating in 25+ countries across Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Estelita shares how her background reporting from Brazil's overlooked regions shaped her conviction that the most important stories, and the most important markets, are the ones nobody is paying attention to. That same instinct drives Ebanx's focus on the "Digital South": hundreds of millions of mobile-first, young, middle-class consumers who are transacting online for the first time and can't be reached with a card-first checkout.

In this conversation, you'll hear about the innovation happening right now in emerging market payments, from Brazil's Pix reaching 95% adult adoption in under five years, to India's UPI embedding inside Rupay cards, to M-Pesa in Kenya issuing virtual cards for online purchases. Estelita argues that rather than competing, these payment methods are feeding each other and building a larger, more inclusive ecosystem.

Key themes: fintech innovation, emerging markets, financial inclusion, digital payments, the Global South, consumer behaviour, SaaS, gaming, social commerce.

🔗 Learn more at worlddatalab.com
Data Talks is produced by World Data Lab, bringing global data to life through insights, conversations, and stories that matter.