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by littlestymaar 1019 days ago
> If you are exports were dominated specifically by the use of energy (over say human capital or laxer pollution standards)

But nobody ever said that. Chinese exports don't have to be driven by the use of energy to actually consume the energy! Labor cost was the main factor (but not really anymore, and the most labor intensive industries like clothing have long transitioned to even lower-wage countries in South-East Asia), followed with the industrial expertise (with a enormous qualified workforce tailored for industrial production), but once the industrial production happens there, the energy is consumed there and not in the Western world.

1 comments

You don't seem to be addressing my point in this reply. You have to make an affirmative case that growth and energy are decoupled in China but exports and energy are not to make your argument work.

If you don't have the data that's fine, I was hoping for data!

> You have to make an affirmative case that growth and energy are decoupled in China

No I haven't. Actually I said the opposite, and I will reassert it here: growth and energy usage doesn't need to be decoupled in any way, for China to actually export energy. Export is appearing on both sides of the equation: on the GPD side, and on the energy consumption side.