A slump in China is inevitable - here's how to protect yourself

Many people think China is striking an expert balance between inflation and growth. But they're wrong. China is ultimately headed for a fall. That may not be disastrous for China, but it's very bad news for the rest of the world. John Stepek explains why, and what you can do about it.

Investors across the world think that China is walking a tightrope.

They hold their breath, watching as the canny Chinese government treads a slim line between the dangers of inflation and the perils of slower growth.

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John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.