Why China's economy doesn't add up, according to one economist | Asian Insider podcast

The gap between Beijing's stated growth rates and actual economic performance is widening considerably, says expert In this episode, US Bureau Chief Bhagyashree Garekar chats with Dr Logan Wright, an expert on the Chinese economy. He is based in Washington, DC, after living and working in Beijing and Hong Kong for over two decades.  Wright is a partner at Rhodium Group, a US research and advisory group. He leads the firm’s China markets research work. He is also a senior associate of the trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  His book Broken China: How the Economic Miracle Shattered and What it Means for the World hits the stores in September 2026. In this episode, he points out that most analysts treat the Chinese economy differently from other economies. “They tend to look at the Chinese system and say this is a different political system, it produces outputs that are long-term plans. Therefore, we filter incoming data in terms of how China is doing based on its long-term plans and its declared goals. From a financial system perspective, it looks entirely different,” he says. He also sketches out what strikes him as the most troubling aspect of the Chinese economy today.  Highlights (click/tap above):  0:00 Intro 1:20 Analysis of China's actual growth vs. official reports 2:50 Is that a minority opinion? 5:00 The most troubling aspects of the Chinese economy 9:10 Evaluating the quality of Chinese economic data 13:00 AI's impact on returns in the Chinese economy 17:00 When will the property sector rebound? 22:00 Will policy efforts to boost domestic consumption succeed? 25:00 Will China’s low birth rates, high death rates have a large impact on growth? 27:00 The worsening problem of excess industrial capacity 29:10 Reasons South-east Asia must pay attention to China Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo  Bhagyashree Garekar’s LinkedIn: https://str.sg/gD6E  Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz  Host: Bhagyashree Garekar (bhagya@sph.com.sg)  Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani Executive producer: Ernest Luis Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here: Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7  Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8  Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Asian Insider YouTube: https://str.sg/rF3qR  Follow The Straits Times on YouTube: https://str.sg/ytsub Turn on notifications 🔔 to stay updated. -------------------- WEBSITE ➤ https://www.straitstimes.com WHATSAPP ➤ https://str.sg/whatsapp TIKTOK ➤   / straitstimes   INSTAGRAM ➤   / straits_times   FACEBOOK ➤   / thestraitstimes   TWITTER ➤   / straits_times   TELEGRAM ➤ https://t.me/TheStraitsTimes PODCASTS ➤ https://str.sg/stpodcasts #straitstimes