Inflation News From China Tells a Sorry Tale

Deflation at the factory gate reveals serious and fundamental economic distortions.
Inflation News From China Tells a Sorry Tale
People cross a street at the Huangpu district in Shanghai on June 6, 2024. Hector Retamal /AFP via Getty Images
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Commentary

China’s latest inflation figures should keep the authorities in Beijing awake at night. The complete lack of consumer inflation announces that Chinese consumers have deeper problems than the property crisis, bad as that is. At the same time, declining producer prices announce that in addition to consumer problems, the planners in Beijing have made matters worse by distorting China’s economy.

Milton Ezrati
Milton Ezrati
Author
Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is "Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live."
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