Commentary

I applaud the new Chinese regulation as a good step forward for the environment and people of China.  (Here’s the article in Greenbiz.com that has more details.)

The regulation is not particularly noteworthy for the impact it will have on the environment but on what it says about how important capitalism is to the Chinese government.  The all-powerful Chinese government could just tell the businesses what to do but instead chose to tie environmental improvements to the businesses' need for capital.

The move is similar to American air pollution regulations on coal-fired power plants where they do not have to install anti-pollution technology unless they are expanding or upgrading the power plant.  The American regulation and the Chinese regulation are designed to not create an additional burden on a business unless it is investing more money. 

Here is an example of how our politics and economy are more similar than different.