"a bigger contributor to the massive improvement in (purely economic) standard-of-living for most Chinese."
Has this game even been played out it? From far away, China does not look like a desirable place to live in. Maybe they are just destroying everything in exchange for a few good years?
I remember having read somewhere that the Russians destroyed the Aral sea by starting excessive wheat farming on it's borders. So they had good wheat yields for a couple of years. But then suddenly the Aral sea was gone completely, and with it the wheat. I wonder if we might not see a lot of such things in China eventually.
Has this game even been played out it? From far away, China does not look like a desirable place to live in. Maybe they are just destroying everything in exchange for a few good years?
I remember having read somewhere that the Russians destroyed the Aral sea by starting excessive wheat farming on it's borders. So they had good wheat yields for a couple of years. But then suddenly the Aral sea was gone completely, and with it the wheat. I wonder if we might not see a lot of such things in China eventually.