China's Housing-Sector Crisis

12min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

This chapter discusses the housing-sector crisis in China and its impact on the Chinese economy, highlighting the significance of the housing markets in the country's GDP. It explores the concerns raised by the financial troubles faced by housing giant Country Garden and the recent default of heavily indebted firm Evergrande, as well as the repercussions when faith in housing investments wavers.

Once again, fears are ripping through the industry—this time starting from a firm once thought too big to fail. In an economy so dependent on housebuilding, that will have wide-ranging consequences. We take a ride in one of the autonomous taxis that have flooded onto San Francisco’s streets (10:22). And crunching the numbers on Antarctica’s worrisome dearth of sea ice (19:40).

For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer