>"4 grandparents" problem - no, when a couple marries, the woman's parents are not (generally) cared for by the new family."
I don't see how that changes his argument. If you have a girl then you now have 0 grandchildren to help you when you're old, thus logically causing you to save even more than you would have.
>The savings rate is due to thousands of years of constant invasion, mass slaughter, starvation and death. Look through Chinese history and you will see more than a few "mass extinctions" (80%+ death rates). This leads to a saving mentality, it's embedded in the culture (and not a new thing at all).
Europe has had near extinction events and invasions as well, so I don't think you can really just point to that as the total explanation.
Additionally from what I've read Chinese savings rates have been increasing, so it can't be explained as merely cultural.
>Personal savings are not at all used in this way.
How are banks investing the money, then? If they are investing the money in such a way that it frees up other funds for the government to invest elsewhere then it has the same net effect.
Does it really matter if you have a 1% or 3% rate on your bank account? At the end of it, because of the inflation rate, you still have a negative real rate for deposits which would promote investing elsewhere (like apartments).
I don't see anywhere where he said everyone was speculating on property as a savings mechanism. Obviously some parts of China are very poor. The fact remains though that people are choosing to speculate in property, which is logical given the negative real rates in China.
I assume there are restrictions which prevent Chinese people from easily investing their money in other countries? On the other hand, I assume these restrictions are somewhat permeable which is why you certainly do have rich Chinese buying up property overseas?
In general, Chinese citizens cannot invest in stocks of non-Chinese companies. There may be some ways around that, but that's the general understanding I was given when I was recently talking to someone from Beijing.
no, when a couple marries, the woman's parents are not (generally) cared for by the new family
My bet is the one-child policy will make short work of this social norm. The point is there's a one-to-one relationship between children and sets of four grandparents. Daughters won't let their elders starve.
