Take a look at this article about the demand for safe baby food by Chinese parents. The NY Times wants to tell a "limits to growth" story about the general equilibrium effects of how China's growing urban middle class' demand for safe high quality products raises their demand for European imports of milk and this drives up the price of this product. Yes, supply and demand matter. I thought that the NY Times seeks for the world's producers to be stimulated to produce more so that more people get jobs? Shouldn't we all move to Europe so that we can milk cows and send the baby food to China? Would that end the recession?
Let me stop cracking jokes and make my point. Siqi Zheng and I are finishing a book about Chinese urbanites' demand for higher quality of life and the implications of this trend for their cities, families and for the world. When the University of Chicago press publishes this book, I will be making the case for why you should read it! To listen to me speak about China, watch this video of a talk I gave last year at USC.
