Dani Rodrik shows why the most common criticism of the country's surpluses and broader economic model falls flat.
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Economics
Aug 10, 2026
Dani Rodrik
When major economies are running at near full capacity, it is not clear that trade deficits should be a cause for concern, since they represent a transfer of purchasing power from surplus countries. Under the current circumstances, then, China’s widely criticized surpluses might as well be called enrich-thy-neighbor.
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