What is demand? Amid the year’s most frantic shopping window, that’s a tough one to answer. At this point in December, our collective compass for material want usually needs recalibrating.
But pose the question we should. In the world of money, demand matters. Economics textbooks describe it as the relationship between a good’s availability and value, and a buyer’s ability to pay. That’s obviously a big enough subject already. But demand is also a measurement of time, and a key organising principle of our societies, daily lives and aspirations for the future.
Fine, you might think. But what has this got to do with the outlook for 2025? Pondering how ‘demand’ will fare over a year feels a bit like asking what weather we’ll have. Yes, there’ll be a lot of it. Yes, there will be seasons, patterns and rules of thumb. But it’ll vary, and it’ll be hard to call with any precision, on any given day or location.