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The real problem with China’s economy

The country risks making some of the mistakes the Soviet Union did

A reflected image of The Forbidden City in Beijing
image: Getty Images/Carl Godfrey

China’S giant economy faces an equally giant crisis of confidence—and a growing deficit of accurate information is only making things worse. Even as the country wrestles with a property crash, the services sector slowed by one measure in August. Consumers are fed up. Multinational firms are taking money out of China at a record pace and foreign China-watchers are trimming their forecasts for economic growth.

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This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “China’s looking-glass economy ”

From the September 7th 2024 edition

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