Negative savings rates? China has one of the highest savings rates in the world. Did you mean negative real interest rates? Even so, still gibberish. Building see-through buildings, palatial headquarters for SEOs and vanity projects is as wasteful as anything we see in the West, if not more so. Some impressive modern architecture and engineering, though.
Boom/bust economics don't apply to China because there isn't a free capital market (legitimately anyway, there is a shadow underground financial system in some parts, not sure how big).
It's not really a market economy, it's selective application of market principles in a primarily top-down government-run economy.
Government directs SEOs to build apartments, high-speed rail etc., banks to lend for it, and bails everyone out if it doesn't make money. Result is massive resource misallocation. (Not that the West doesn't misallocate resources, build see-through buildings, Pets.com, etc.)
Boom/bust economics don't apply to China because there isn't a free capital market (legitimately anyway, there is a shadow underground financial system in some parts, not sure how big).
It's not really a market economy, it's selective application of market principles in a primarily top-down government-run economy.
Government directs SEOs to build apartments, high-speed rail etc., banks to lend for it, and bails everyone out if it doesn't make money. Result is massive resource misallocation. (Not that the West doesn't misallocate resources, build see-through buildings, Pets.com, etc.)
Another good read on China is here - http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/05/a-different-way-of-look...