Is China's stock market really crazier than America's?

The U.S. market is supposed to be the mature one. Really?

A Chinese investor tracks stocks on a screen.
(Image credit: REUTERS)

Another day, another China-induced stock market drop.

At the start of this week, China's major stock indexes rung in the New Year by dropping 7 or 8 percent, inspiring sell-offs throughout Japan, Europe, and the United States. Then, a mere 13 minutes into trading on Thursday, China's CSI 300 index dropped 5 percent, setting off what has colloquially become known as "the circuit breaker." It's a policy the government introduced at the start of 2016 in response to the stock turmoil that hit midway through last year: If stock markets drop 5 percent, trading is halted for 15 minutes so everyone can calm down. If they drop 7 percent, trading stops for the day.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.