pa94c.jpg Paul Lachine

Copycat Capitalists

Given the West’s anemic growth performance in recent years, it is hardly surprising that envy of China’s economic dynamism has manifested itself in official policy. But Western countries are shifting to statism at the very moment that China is heading in the opposite direction.

ZURICH – It is all too easy to envy China. At current growth rates, the Chinese economy will double in size in only nine years, raising an estimated 100 million people above the poverty line in the process.

Compare this to the major economies of the Western world. The eurozone’s GDP remains mired below 2008 levels, and the United States last enjoyed Chinese-style growth back in 1984, when gasoline was $1.10 a gallon and the first Apple Macintosh was rolling off the production line in California.

Given the West’s anemic performance in recent years, it is hardly surprising that envy of China’s economic dynamism has manifested itself in official policy. Recent examples range from direct market interventions (such as America’s effort to boost its automotive industry via the “cash for clunkers” program), to the British government’s attempt to reflate the United Kingdom’s housing market by guaranteeing mortgages under its “Help to Buy” scheme.

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