China’s state planner has always been a potent force in making big investment decisions that affect the macro economy, and now it’s quickly emerging as a potent regulator of product pricing by the private sector. That’s my major conclusion following news for the second time this week that the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is conducting yet another pricing investigation against foreign firms it suspects of fixing prices artificially high. Earlier this week the target of a new probe was foreign milk powder makers, and this time it’s foreign drug makers including Merck (NYSE: MRK), GlaxoSmithKline (London: GSK), Novartis (Switzerlan; NOVN) and around 2 dozen other companies. Read Full Post…
