It’s a bit counterintuitive to draw any links between the doomsday document called the Intergenerational Report and the stagnation of China’s economy. But there is a link: poor economic policy driven by political leaders who are more interested in retaining power than promoting the national interest.

Let’s look at China first. China’s post 1979 economic miracle which has lifted over 600 million people out of absolute poverty was driven by a simple but sensible idea: deregulate the economy and allow price signals, consumer preferences and individual initiative to distribute national resources rather than have bureaucrats and politicians make those decisions.