China’s bid to stabilise its property market is causing jitters
Can it be done without harming the wider economy?
OCTOBER 6TH 1979 was a beautiful Saturday in Washington. It was not the kind of day that augured wrenching change in economic policy. But on that date Paul Volcker, then chairman of America’s central bank, announced a radical plan to quash persistent inflation. Before the battle was won, America’s interest rates reached 20% and unemployment surpassed 10%. Car dealers sent him the keys to vehicles they could not sell, in coffins.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Red lines, grey rhinos and big mountains”
From the September 4th 2021 edition
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