AUGUST 7, 2013

Even though economists expected that the Chinese manufacturing sector would contract in July 2013, it did exactly the opposite. China’s economy is heavily dependent on manufacturing and exports; its citizens consume only a fraction of all the goods made in the country, and the rest are exported to the U.S., Europe and other markets. In fact, China makes so much stuff that if it suddenly decided to stop, most of the rest of the world would experience impossibly high demand for many “essentials” of modern life — things like air conditioners, cell phones and personal computers.