Have you ever felt like escaping to your own desert island?

Jane Gaskin did exactly that, trading in the family home to begin a new life in the

tropics.

But she soon discovers that Paradise has its secrets.

I'm Alice Levine, and this is the price of Paradise,

the island dream that ends in kidnap, corruption, and murder.

Wish you were here.

Follow the price of Paradise Now, wherever you listen to podcasts.

This is John Batcheler.

Conversation with my colleague Chris Regal who travels the world for

scholar.com about the Chinese consumer reports that there are places in China towns where local officials go into homes,

residences, and inspect the appliances. If they're not up to date haven't

been purchased within a set time frame. The order is to buy a new one.

consumption, Chinese style. I ask Chris about consumer cultures such as the U.S. and China's ambition to become one.

How?

This answer is measured.

China, domestic consumption, forced question mark.

That's correct. If you had the type of domestic economy in China that you do in the US or Western Europe where the consumerism is much more advanced, then kind

of could be much closer to self-sustaining instead of being an export principally on the economy.

China is edging towards that, but that's not a quick journey or a quick

switch to flip and in the Chinese people's approach the desire to have that fully the economy has to lie with the consumer

becoming more of a consumerist, but not too consumerist, not too free, not too open and livable

...