Where China Hides Its Debt

摘要

Victor Shih is a professor of political science at Northwestern University who spends his days scouring the Chinese Internet, looking for signs of financial trouble. Shih explores obscure Chinese government sites for announcements of loan agreements between China's state-owned banks and local investment companies (LICs). These companies borrow on behalf of local governments whose own ability to borrow is legally limited. Officially, there are more than 8,000 LICs. Beijing encouraged their development over the past two years as a way to disseminate funds quickly to projects.