Ghost Cities of China

If this is real, it is both amazing and rather depressing.

These are satellite images of huge developments in China. Developments in the middle of nowhere, meant to house people that don't live there and parking lots for businesses that don't exit.

How do you know there is no economic activity? No cars, empty roads, no trucks bringing goods to stores, no smoke from the factories, no trash in the streets, no children in the schools.

We saw this kind of thing in Soviet Russia, where towns were built not because of economic necessity, but because of central planning. The result was that after the fall of the Soviet Union, these towns were abandoned as people left to pursue a life elsewhere. Will the same fate fall on China or are they just setting the stage for massive future growth?

Time will tell, but the market will direct economic activity better than any city planner or government bureaucrat.