In order to understand why the government has chosen to invest in economic growth over the environment I think we must have an understanding of what China’s long term and short term goals are. Maybe the people are paying a price right now for the unhealthy environment but this may be for the better in the future. Perhaps this short term of suffering will result in a long term of flourishing.

This article shows us how big of a role the government plays in command/semi-free market country. Their decisions will greatly impact the present and the future of China both economically and environmentally.

This situation of economic growth is very ironic because the economy is growing; but in a sense, the people are not and are “choking” on it. Now this makes me wonder if there is a way to achieve economic growth without any costs. The answer is no because the fundamental rule of economics, scarcity, gives everything a cost.

Personally, I always thought that economic growth is absolutely beneficial to a country and the individuals involved no matter what. But as Economists commonly say, there is in fact no “free lunch” for a nation’s economic growth, either - and China’s case, the opportunity cost is severe pollution and degradation of public health.

After reading the article, it almost seems as though the marginal cost of China’s economic growth in fact exceeds its marginal benefit. Yes, economic growth is definitely desirable, because it means the increase in capacity for larger total outputs that will correspondingly increase the utility of more of its people. However, the marginal cost of it is not as light as it is assumed by most people, either. China as shown a sharp increase in its industrial power, which led to economic power since the country has allocated more resources on capital goods, making investments for a greater future production capacity. However, the consequent pollution caused by industrial zones is so severe with such domestic and international repercussions that it not only poses a long-term burden on the Chinese public, but also a “political challenge towards the ruling government party.”

Also, the public health is deteriorating due to the pollution requires a huge cost - the sacrifice of the nation’s people, the potential or current labor resources. The carcinogens released to air from factories affects a large population’s health, along with acid rain that kills marine lives and damages its historical heritages.

It is extremely ironic how China faces a major problem due to its major achievement. Although it is definitely a hard problem to solve as much as it is ironic, China has to solve it. In my opinion, China should turn some of its focus on economic growth and relocate its time and money on resolving the environmental and health problems that are occuring first, because, eventually these opportunity costs will ultimately affect its economic growth altogether.

Industrial China has been a famous topic for some time and many countries are predicting its great economic success in the future. The fact that China has benefited greatly from its industrial revolution can not be denied. Truely the statistics say that china has improved its economy by 200%. However, viewing this issue from an economist point of view, does China’s explosive growth of economy really overcome the cost of exposing 99% of China’s city dwellers to air condition considered hazardous by the European Union? Does the marginal benefit of boosting the countries GDP overrun the marginal cost of having children killed by lead poisoning and other toxic gases and making China the leading nation of carbon emission?

China’s skyrocketing growth may be tempting and even addictive for some. However, China’s economy of cheap labor and product will only last short term. Afterall, we live in a world with scarce resources and even in a land as big as China, its resources will generally run out and bigger problems will face China as it is forced to clean up its mess and invest colossal sum of money, exceeding what it has earned, to restore its degrading environment. I say it is time that China realize its overly ambitious greed for money is tearing itself apart.

This situation is not only happening in Shanxi or NingXia or Wunan provinces in China, but also in well-known cities, such as Macao and Hong Kong. Due to the lack of land resources in Hong Kong, every inch or land is precious, therefore both governments and private companies invest money to fill up sections of the sea to create more “new discovered” land for buildings, hotels, factories, etc. Nevertheless, the direct result of these “new discovered land” is increase rate of pollution, which not only cause death rates (pneumonia, lung cancer) to increase, but suffocating weather that traps Hong Kong. Facts have actually shown that 1 out of 560 million people in China breathe what European Union claims as “clear air.”

Now the question comes along: Is industrialization really worth sacrificing the health of billions of Chinese people and destroying the natural environments that was once considered the best in the world? After all, there is no free lunch in this world.

In order for the Chinese to continue their greatest economical conquest in the history of mankind, a few things should be done. First and foremost, the Chinese (and hopefully the rest of the world) will need to find more environmental-friendly resources to replace the non-renewable resources. Yes, yes, this is what we all are trying to get to, but it doesn’t seem like we can put too much hope on this one given our current, still somewhat lacking level of technology. Next, China needs to reduce its huge population in order to compensate for the limited production rate that Earth has granted us. With a smaller population, the living standard of individuals should increase. However, even with the one-child policy implemented a few decades ago, China’s population is still huge. Therefore, I don’t think we should count on this solution too much either. Finally, one final way to assist China’s economic growth is to hope that the top nations of the world, such as the USA and the European nations, will lend a helping hand, lowering their living standard by a reasonable degree (we don’t really need four cars per family) so that the Chinese may enjoy a higher living standard they, under normal conditions, wouldn’t be able to achieve. However, this is like asking for a communist policy to be placed over the whole world, and in the end, solving China’s economic growth cap this way doesn’t seem to be practical.

So, with no obvious way present currently for China to get around this limit on industrial expansion, if the industrialization isn’t stopped in time, China will end up sucking dry whatever hospitality Mother Nature had granted us. If the world was not to be destroyed, I think China should halt some of its factory productions for a while and concentrate on improving the living standards of its people. This includes making the environment greener so that health issues regarding pollution are less likely to be present.