Despite China’s lack of a comparative advantage for steel production, it has built approximately one thousand mills, with output accounting for roughly half of the global total. As early as 2004, China’s government tried to clamp down on overinvestment; and yet output increased dramatically, from 300 million tons that year to a billion tons in 2012, owing to strong demand generated by investment in infrastructure and real-estate development.
在这方面，中国钢铁业再次提供了很好的例子。尽管中国在钢生产方面并无比较优势，但仍建设了大约一千家钢铁厂，产出占了全球总产量的半壁江山。早在2004年，中国政府就试图降温过度投资；但由于基础设施投资和房地产开发所带来的强劲需求，产出仍然增长迅猛，从当年的3亿吨增加到2012年的10亿吨。