China's Great Wall of Debt by Dinny McMahon

McMahon is among the most compelling of the many analysts who conclude that China's economic miracle will end painfully' The Economist The world has long considered China a juggernaut of economic strength, but since the global financial crisis, the country's economy has ballooned in size, complexity, and risk. His analysis is informed but accessible, animated by anecdotes and characters, some colourful, some verging on tragic. Second, he comes closer than any previous writer to covering the Chinese economy as Michael Lewis, the hugely popular author of The Big Short, might do. China’s Great Wall of Debt unravels an incredibly complex and opaque economy, one whose fortunes-for better or worse-will shape the globe like never before.'One of the clearest and most thorough statements of an argument often made about the country: that its government has relied on constant stimulus to keep growth strong, an addiction that is bound to backfire. Through the stories of ordinary Chinese citizens, McMahon tries to make sense of the unique-and often bizarre-mechanics of the Chinese economy, whether it be the state’s addiction to appropriating land from poor farmers, why a Chinese entrepreneur decided it was cheaper to move his yarn factory to South Carolina, why ambitious Chinese mayors build ghost cities, or why the Chinese bureaucracy was able to stare down Beijing’s attempts to break up the state’s pointless monopoly over the distribution of table salt.ĭebt, entrenched vested interests, a frenzy of speculation, and an aging population are all pushing China toward an economic reckoning. While stories of newly built but empty cities, white elephant state projects, and a byzantine shadow banking system have all become a regular fixture in the press in recent years, McMahon goes beyond the headlines to explain how such waste has been allowed to flourish, and why one of the most powerful governments in the world has been at a loss to stop it.

In this unprecedented deep dive, McMahon shows how, lurking behind the illusion of prosperity, China’s economic growth has been built on a staggering mountain of debt.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Over the course of a decade spent reporting on the ground in China as a financial journalist, Dinny McMahon gradually came to the conclusion that the widely held belief in China’s inevitable economic ascent is dangerously wrong.

China's Great Wall of Debt by Dinny McMahon