China’s savings habit
Courtesy of Edward Harrison at Credit Writedowns
I want to highlight the good work of the BBC again. The last time I featured one of the BBC documentaries, it was about (conspicuous) consumption in China and the push to get Chinese citizens to spend more in order to support the economy. Today, I want to highlight another BBC documentary, this time on Chinese savings.
The Chinese are world-class savers. So much so that western economists have concocted a theory called the Blame Asia meme which puts the recent financial crisis squarely on the shoulders of Asia.
But, one must ask why the Chinese are saving so much in the first place. The twenty-three minute clip below demonstrates that it has much more to do with necessity — the one-child policy and a porous social safety net – than anything else.
I subscribe to the BBC Documentary Podcast and have featured these clips here before — on reports by Michael Robinson on the U.S. housing bubble and the Latvian collapse in particular. I recommend it highly. The BBC releases maybe 5 audio podcasts per week of about 22-25 minutes in length. You can access this audio clip, visit the back catalogue, or subscribe to the podcast at the link below.
Source
Assignment – China Saving’s Habit – BBC Website
