I agree that stimulating demand will do little or nothing for a supply-side shock like this, but I do wonder if this could turn into a demand-side problem. A collapsing stock market could destroy wealth for many actors - could it trigger another financial crisis? At least anecdotally, much of the run-up in real estate prices in many markets has been driven by wealthy Chinese buying up properties as investments - could this trigger another housing bubble collapse? The argument against that is that rents are also high, which traditionally means that property prices are being driven by real demand, not just speculation. But could it just be because many properties are being left empty instead of being rented out?



I don't know the answers. But I worry that our leaders still do not know how to deal with a demand-side crisis if it does come.