There has been much angst over the latest report of China's quarterly decline in forex reserves, which has been described as "hot money" fleeing China. A more important sign of China's health is how much "unofficial" money from tycoons and wealthy officials have fled. If corrupt officials were to take money out of China , than it would be an important sign of the metaphorical rats leaving a sinking ship.
One rough way of monitoring the "unofficial" money flow is to watch gaming revenues in Macau. The Economist discusses Macau's success as a gaming destination [emphasis added]:
Macau’s success is not built purely on the Chinese love of gambling. It is also fuelled by a stampede of nervous money fleeing the mainland. A look behind the scenes at Macau reveals a lot about Chinese corruption, and also about how scared many Chinese businessfolk are about the political climate back home.
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