Predictions about the economy prove useful

The reason so many forecasts of China's economic collapse have failed to prove anything close to the truth is that, while seeming to be based on at least some facts, they have helped remind decision-makers and managers of the problems they have to avoid.

They have helped create a kind of pressure, so to speak, for them to always answer to themselves (before showing the world) whether what they do will be sustainable. They have to make sure that their policies will result in at least an increasing sense of certainty, and at best a workable model, of steady growth.

For the last couple of years the decision-makers have tried hard to bring about such a long-term effect, despite many short-term difficulties.