It’s a tale of two economic realities. In the United States, a growing sense of decline permeates consumer life—dubbed “enshittification” by journalist Cory Doctorow. In China, a different phenomenon—known locally as neijuan (involution), or involution—is driving hyper-competition and rapid technological advancement. While Americans complain about paying more for less, Chinese consumers are enjoying a wave of affordable, high-quality goods and services.
The enshittification of America
Marko Jukic, senior analyst at Bismarck Analysis, recently lamented on X that “enshittification” is a “safe horny” term for what is really “outright impoverishment and declining living standards due to economic insolvency from deindustrialization, demographic decline, hyperinflation, etc.” He added, “When you work harder to earn more money that buys less goods and services of lower quality – you are becoming poorer. That’s the word for it.”
Doctorow coined the term to describe the deliberate degradation of digital platforms—like Facebook, which has devolved into a swamp of clickbait and dodgy ads—as companies prioritize shareholder profits over user experience. YouTube’s free tier is now nearly unusable, pushing users toward paid subscriptions. But Jukic expands the concept to the physical world: $20 salad bowls, ruinous medical bills, and a $56,480 Honda Pilot.
Even the humble Chinese buffet—once a staple of American dining—has fallen victim. On recent visits to the US, this writer was shocked by the decline: $18 for tasteless reheated shrimp, limp broccoli, and rock-hard egg rolls. The magic of yesteryear’s weekend seafood spreads and Mongolian barbecue stations has been crushed by food and labor inflation.
David Goldman, former Asia Times columnist and now senior advisor at the US State Department, noted in January 2025: “Is China cooking its GDP numbers? I don’t know. But the US surely is. China’s electricity consumption is now 8MWh/capita, vs. 3MWh/capita in 2010. That’s proportional to the increase in China’s reported real GDP. The US is at 13MWH/capita, unchanged from 2010. We have a lot more GDP in the US, but less industrial production than in 2008.”
The involution of China
If enshittification is the opposite of progress, then its counterpoint is Chinese involution. The term, coined by anthropologist Clifford Geertz in 1963 to describe Indonesian rice farming where extra labor yielded diminishing returns, has been adopted by Chinese netizens to describe the exhausting, hyper-competitive grind of modern life. But this writer argues that what the Chinese call juan (involution) is actually a powerful engine of value creation.
Chinese consumers and entrepreneurs complain endlessly about competition, thin margins, and demanding teachers—but this is often a form of humblebragging. In a culture where boasting invites jealousy, complaining about “involution” is a way to signal success without tempting fate. Western observers often take these complaints at face value, missing the underlying reality: China is experiencing spectacular improvements in quality, features, choice, and service.
China’s economy is not stagnating. Consumption is not low. The country is flooding the world with exports not because it has to, but because its products are outclassing the competition. This is the result of decades of planned investment in higher education, infrastructure, and the Made in China 2025 program, now turbocharged by rapid AI adoption across the economy.
When an economy hits a patch of turbocharged productivity growth, deflation, low interest rates, and unemployment are expected. The market gets flooded with innovative products at absurdly low prices. This is exactly what is happening in China post-COVID, while the US AI revolution has so far only fueled inflation and raised interest rates.
The idea that China is not growing consumption is preposterous. Since COVID, China’s per capita household consumption has grown multiple times faster than major economies and the world overall. And this growth is likely undercounted, given the revolution in quality and features.
As the US grapples with enshittification, China’s involution offers a stark contrast. While Americans pay more for less, Chinese consumers enjoy a deflationary abundance. The question is which model will define the 21st century. For now, the evidence points to China. For more on the shifting dynamics, see why Chinese suppliers are no longer discounting and the real costs behind cheap Chinese AI tokens.
