Corner cutting as a behavior can only persist because of high competition and information asymmetry: if buyers can't tell quality from crap, then honest sellers

Corner cutting as a behavior can only persist because of high competition and information asymmetry: if buyers can't tell quality from crap, then honest sellers get out-competed and driven out of the market. China is a very, very competitive market with relatively low barriers to entry. Any successful product instantly attracts legions of competitors and copycats. Technological changes can make the information asymmetry much worse. If buyers have had a long time to familiarize themselves with a product, they're more likely to tell good from bad, in the process weeding out bad producers. If it's a new product, they never got that chance. I'll bet a lot of these apartment buildings are sold to first-time owners. Classic paper, in the context of used cars: https://www.iei.liu.se/nek/730g83/artiklar/1.328833/AkerlofMarketforLemons.pdf https://www.iei.liu.se/nek/730g83/artiklar/1.328833/AkerlofM...