Comments on: China Ghost Towns http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/china-ghost-towns/ Macro Perspective on the Capital Markets, Economy, Geopolitics, Technology, and Digital Media Sun, 21 Mar 2010 06:50:33 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: VangelV http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/china-ghost-towns/comment-page-1/#comment-234468 VangelV Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:24:13 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=43668#comment-234468 I saw something similar but on a smaller scale in Yunnan province at the border with Burma. My wife pointed out that our hotel was located in an empty new town that was about 10 km away from another one that was full of people. That was in 1996. While the developers may have had trouble for a while, ten years later the area was thriving as prices and economic activity adjusted to reality. I suspect that in a few years the same thing will happen with this particular case as prices adjust by enough to make the option of living there viable. That said, Jane Jacobs is probably spinning in her grave as this is the perfect example of the folly of central planning. I saw something similar but on a smaller scale in Yunnan province at the border with Burma. My wife pointed out that our hotel was located in an empty new town that was about 10 km away from another one that was full of people. That was in 1996. While the developers may have had trouble for a while, ten years later the area was thriving as prices and economic activity adjusted to reality. I suspect that in a few years the same thing will happen with this particular case as prices adjust by enough to make the option of living there viable. That said, Jane Jacobs is probably spinning in her grave as this is the perfect example of the folly of central planning.

]]> By: Joe Facer http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/11/china-ghost-towns/comment-page-1/#comment-234412 Joe Facer Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:37:56 +0000 http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/?p=43668#comment-234412 Was this from Al Jazeera? or didi I mishear the attribution at the end? Was this from Al Jazeera? or didi I mishear the attribution at the end?

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