The pillaging of wealth from land vastly outweighs other forms of capital accumulation in China. The way it works is this: Local governments first forcibly buy back land-use authority from farmers at a low price, then sell the land at a high price to developers. With property in hand, developers can easily get a bank loan, and before they have even broken ground they can begin to sell off houses that exist only in blueprints. This conjuring trick would make anyone wild with joy: the money comes so readily, it’s like passing wads of cash from your left hand to your right. Every pore of China’s
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