John Wong

Ding Lu

In the last two decades of the 20th century, China stood out as the world's star performer in economic growth, thanks to the market-oriented reform that started in 1978. At the turn of the century, the Chinese economy faces a series of challenges to sustain its growth and stability. The two-decade-long rapid growth has effectively strengthened China's economic power and raised its people's standard of living. It has also transformed China from a centrally planned command economy into a ?socialist market economy?, which operates increasingly in line with capitalist norms. Major structural problems, however, remain and are growing acute. Weakness in the fiscal system breeds rent seeking at the local level and causes tension in the state budget. The flawed financial institutions and the biased ownership structure continue to distort resource allocation and cause huge efficiency losses. Inter-provincial and inter-regional disparity is reaching a level that threatens national unity and social stability. As China joins the World Trade Organization and becomes more integrated into the world economy, it urgently needs to improve the domestic business environment and to beef up indigenous industries for foreign competition.This volume is a collection of papers written by scholars at the East Asian Institute to address those problems during the period 1999?2001. The authors, with their knowledge and experience in China studies, provide in-depth observations and professional analyses of some of the most important issues for the Chinese economy at the turn of the century. Some of the observations and analyses lead to enlightening policy recommendations. The solid scholarship combined with the policy orientation of these papers will appeal greatly to researchers in academia, governments and other institutions. The policy-oriented and fact-based analyses will also be of interest to practitioners in business, including business consultants.

Structural Issues and Problems

China's Economy Into the New Century

William A. W. Neilson

In the last two decades, China's western inland region has largely been left out of the nation's economic boom. While its 355-million population accounts for 28% and its land area for 71% of China's total, the region's share of the national GDP is under 20%. Since 1999, Beijing has implemented the West China Development Program to boost the region's growth. To study the major domestic issues and the global implications of this program, the University of Victoria's Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives organized and hosted a multidisciplinary international conference on March 6OCo8, 2003. This volume of papers presented at the conference offers perspectives on the issues by leading experts of diversified academic disciplines from China, Canada, the US, and other countries. Sample Chapter(s). Introduction: West China Development Issues and Challenges (3,355 KB). Contents: Goals and Objectives: Designing a Regional Development Strategy for China (D Perkins); Eco-Environmental Protection and Poverty-Alleviation in West China Development (Y Zheng & Y Qian); Western China: Human Security and National Security (R Bedeski); Coordinating Institutions and Mechanism: A New Pattern of Regional Co-operation in China: Four Economic Belts Across East to West (S Li et al.); The Political Logic of Fiscal Transfers in China (S Wang); An Introductory Environmental Macroeconomic Framework for China: Implications for West China Development (D Thampapillai et al.); Enhancing the Western China Development Strategy (WCDS): Innovative Approaches (N C Stoskopf et al.); Effectiveness and Efficiency: On the UrbanOCoRural Relationship in Western Region Development Program (Y Shi & P Du); The Western Region's Growth Potential (D Lu & E Thomson); Measuring the Impact of the OC Five Mega-ProjectsOCO (L Lin & S Liu); Education and Development: A Historical Experience of Sichuan (Y Li); Distribution of Benefits and Costs: The New Challenges Facing the Development of West China (S Liu & L Lin); Migration Scenarios and Western China Development: The Evidence from 2000 Population Census Data (S Bao & W T Woo); Gender Relations, Tourism and Ecological Effects in Lijiang, China (G Kelkar); Sources of Interregional Disparity: The Relative Contributions of Location and Preferential Policies in China's Regional Development (S Demurger et al.); Urbanization and West China Development (D Lu & W T Woo); China's Regional Disparities in 1978OCo2000 (Z Lu & S Song); and other papers. Readership: Researchers, academics, students and business consultants interested in China and its development."

Ding Lu

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