FORECASTS CAN haunt their authors, especially when they appear in headlines or book titles. Most pundits play it safe, giving "a number or a date, but not both", as an old sage once advised. Thomas Orlik of Bloomberg is more courageous. His latest book, "China: The Bubble That Never Pops", provides an unusually even-handed account of China's economic resilience that is both closely observed and analytically interesting. But its title offers up quite a hostage to fortune. "Never", after all, spans a lot of dates. Fortunately for Mr Orlik, his definition of China's bubble leaves him some wiggle room. He is not referring to any particular market or mania (such as the frenzy for tech stocks this year, bike-sharing in 2017 or caterpillar fungus in 2012). The title refers instead to China's crisis-proof economic momentum, which has survived countless predictions of collapse. Even now, this unpoppable force is bouncing back with impressive speed from the covid-19 pandemic (which arrived after this book was written). Will Mr Orlik ever wish he'd never said never?
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