Barclays Capital study: Building of skyscrapers linked to economic crashes. Warning for China.

[link to abcnews.go.com]

"The appetite in China for high-rises, in the last five years and the next five, is bigger than ever before in the history of building," says Silas Chiow, China director for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the U.S. architectural firm, founded in Chicago, responsible for the Burj Khalifa.


The firm is currently engaged in 50 China projects, including the tallest buildings in eight separate cities.

Chinese government officials believe high-rises "show their progress in terms of urbanization and modernism," spur wider development by boosting investor confidence, and symbolize "a city's desire to become modern and international," says Chiow, a Chinese-American based in China for the past 15 years.

While an architect three decades ago might be lucky to design a handful of skyscrapers, today in China, "one architect or firm can do a dozen or more super high-rises," says Chiow, 51. The boom is producing both startling designs and innovations in energy-use and sustainability, he says.

Correlation is not causation.

And yes, I lol everytime an educated friend claims that china is on economic afterburner to the stars.

Bull.

China's number don't add up much better than the US, or Eurponzi's numbers.

I'm hearin' ya.
A China bubble burst will certainly affect the world fairly catastrophically though.
Australia for example would go straight down the gurgler....

Barclays is a failed bank.