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So specialisation and free trade mean more goods and lower costs. And lower costs mean lower price tags. China has the planes it needs to satisfy the wanderlust of its increasingly prosperous population and Lauren Miller saves money by buying a Chinese radio at Walmart. As a consequence she has more to spend on other items, such as taking her kids to the bowling alley at the weekend.

China has one-fifth of the world's population but only 7 per cent of its arable land.

Wages in Vietnam make China's look almost munificent. The minimum wage for a textile worker in Vietnam is about $100 per month. That's less than one-fifth of the amount a worker in China would earn for stitching together the same T-shirt.

For each dollar it takes at the till, Walmart skims off about three cents in profit.

In total, China flogs as much to that one retailer - via some 20,000 suppliers - as it does to the whole of Germany or the UK. Much of every $1 spent on a toy, electrical gadget or T-shirt at a Walmart checkout