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China's Economic Transition, 1/1/07
Key Lecture Points:
• China boasts the fastest growing economy in the world and the world’s fourth largest economy in overall size. In 2005, the Chinese GDP was almost $9 trillion (the US GDP in 2005 was $11.5 trillion). The Chinese economy grew at a rate of 10.2% in 2005.
• While the transition of the Chinese economy from communism to capitalism has been frequently applauded, problems associated with such rapid growth have been gaining attention: rural poverty versus urban wealth; environmental destruction; labor conditions; and the growth of the “informal” and “black” economy in prostitution, drugs and pirated electronics/software/movies. Further, a transition to democracy, long thought to accompany capitalist economic transitions (as they did in the West), has remained elusive, with the repression of civil and political liberties still very much a reality.
• For the largest economy in the world, the US, the rise of China has also prompted concern from many quarters. The US’s growing trade deficit $866 Billion in 2006) is often attributed to the flood of cheap imports from China along with China’s allegedly undervalued exchange rate. The loss of US jobs in manufacturing and increasingly in services has in part been attributed to outsourcing to China. And, these two superpowers are increasingly competing for the world’s dwindling energy resources.
For More Information:
• On Economic Inequality in China: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/83653548-9509-11db-a911-0000779e2340.html
• Labor rights in China: http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3824
• China’s energy needs: http://www.twq.com/06winter/docs/06winter_leverett.pdf
Books For Further Reading:
• Naughton, Barry. The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth. MIT Press, 2007. 528 Pages.
Description: Naughton provides both an engaging, broadly focused introduction to China's economy since 1949 and original insights based on his own extensive research.
Click here to order.
• Starr, John Bryan. Understanding China: A Guide to China’s Economy, History, and Political Culture. Hill and Wang, 2001. 352 Pages.
Description: John Bryan Starr introduces the uninitiated reader to the background, basic data, and issues at stake in China's crisis-ridden present and past situation.
Click here to order.
• Winters, L. Alan, Yusuf, Shahid. Dancing with Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy. World Bank Publications, 2007. 272 Pages.
Description: This book analyzes the influences on the rapid future development of these two countries and examines how their growth is likely to impinge upon other countries. It considers international trade, industrialization, foreign investment, and capital flows, and the implications of their broadening environmental footprints. It also discusses how the two countries have tackled poverty, inequality and governance issues and whether progress in these areas will be a key to rapid and stable growth.
Click here to order.
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