The Economics of China's Mega Traffic Jam

Monday, August 30, 2010 - 12:00pm PDT by Nate Berg
Government / Politics, Infrastructure, Land Use, Transportation, China
The recent 11-day traffic jam in China was no fluke. As <em>The Economist</em> explains, the crushing congestion is little more than a real-world example of imbalances in supply and demand.

Car ownership is on the rise in China. So is the construction of new highways. But one is rising faster than the other.

"Roadworks and booming demand for coal and other goods sent thousands of lorries heading for China's capital. Beijing is set to spend 80 billion yuan ($11.8 billion) on transport infrastructure in 2010-but it may not be enough. In recent years rising vehicle ownership has outpaced the growth of China's express highway system by a distance."

Thanks to GOOD

Full Story: The great crawl of China
Published on Thursday, August 26, 2010 in The Economist
Tags: 
Congestion, Beijing, Highway Construction, Traffic Jams, Supply and Demand, Car Ownership

Comments

Comments

No, it's capitalism in action.

Submitted by Patrick on 30 August 2010 - 12:44pm

The Economist gets it wrong again - big surprise.

This is not an imbalance of supply and demand, it's capitalism in action.

Soviet Russia eventually recognized that they were collapsing. Capitalist America has not yet had this realization. Hence the rationalizations coming from places like The Economist.

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