The collapse of Lehman Brothers was a major moment in the global financial crisis. Evergrande is not a Lehman Brothers moment, given that China is not the epicentre of the global financial system. But both Lehman Brothers and Evergrande rode a wave of liquidity created, in part, by Chinese excess savings. That doesn’t let the managers and regulators of these companies off the hook. Rather, it reveals how they were both able to rise so far and get away with it for so long. Excessive savings facilitate lending that would not otherwise exist. China’s excess savings have driven successive deficits across the world. ... (full story)