Five myths about the Chinese economy | McKinsey

``[Assumption:] Unproductive investment and rising debt fuels China's rapid growth. To believe this, you would have to think, as many skeptics do, that the Chinese economy is fundamentally driven by overbuilding--too many roads, bridges, and buildings. In fact, as one economist has noted, this is a misperception created by the fact that the country is just very big. An eye-popping statistic is illustrative: in 2013, China consumed 25 times more cement than the US economy did, on average, from 1985 to 2010. But adjusted for per-capita consumption and global construction patterns, China's use is pretty much in line with that of South Korea and Taiwan during their economic booms.''