The Silver Lining in the Red Giant: China’s Residential Mortgage Laws Promote Temperance Among the Surging Middle Class

This comment examines the rise of China‘s middle class and proactive governance to protect its economy from a housing bubble during the global downturn. An analysis of recently enacted Chinese labor and corporate laws demonstrates how the government facilitated the rise of the middle class. The comment dis-cusses the ramifications of strict domestic residential mortgage regulations and how China‘s tempered investment structure secured its domestic housing market. Part II of this comment examines China‘s investment and consumption patterns compared to domestic growth. Part III discusses how the surging middle class grew to seek investment opportunities in the real estate market and abroad. Part IV analyzes China‘s efforts to tame growing interest in the domestic housing market. Part V assesses the shortcomings in U.S. mortgage laws before 2008 and efforts to remedy such oversights, and concludes that China‘s anticipatory legislating and restrictive investment structure shielded it from depression.