Reckless projects undermine the prosperity hopes

Funds wasted by those in local government are drain on economy and will badly hamper urgently needed reforms

Daily news reports from China often provide vivid, sometimes shocking, fodder for textbook theorists.

Not long ago, Paul Krugman, the Nobel Laureate in economics, wrote about China's overdue transition from an economy driven primarily by investment to one that draws a larger share of its growth from consumption.