Rural China Takes Off: Institutional Foundations of Economic Reform, by Jean C. Oi, and China’s Industrial Technology: Market Reform and Organizational Change, by Shulin Gu,

Reviews two books on economic reform in China. \u27Rural China Takes Off: Institutional Foundations of Economic Reform,\u27 by Jean C. Oi; \u27China\u27s Industrial Technology: Market Reform and Organizational Change,\u27 by Shulin Gu

Industry\u27s Response to Market Liberalization in China: Evidence from Jiangsu Province

Addresses the question of whether market liberalization in China has improved economic conditions by examining changes in production patterns in industry as a measure of specialization and by estimating industrial productivity as a proxy for efficiency

Utilizing FDI to Stay Ahead: The Case of Singapore

A country of five million people in 710 square kilometers, Singapore has built itself into an integral part of global markets with living standards that are among the highest in the world. The purpose of this article is to apply a capabilities-based approach to understand how a small, resource-scarce country dependent on global markets has done so well. The core of Singapore’s success has been the continuous updating and expanding of domestic social capabilities to meet the needs of foreign companies. Government policies were hyper-sensitive to providing conditions for foreign firms to be successful. Foreign firms investing in Singapore by now have helped close the income gap with advanced economies and are on the way to closing the innovation gap. Singapore demonstrates that with deliberate attention to building skills, institutions and infrastructure, it is possible for a small country to upgrade skills and to move up the production-value chain with primary reliance on FDI. Cultivation of private Singaporean firms has been secondary but may be the next step needed to sustain progress, both to respond to increased competition from China and others, and to build a knowledge-based economy

William B. Gamble, Investing in China: Legal, Financial and Regulatory Risk

Reviews the book Investing in China: Legal, Financial and Regulator Risk, by William B. Gamble

The Study of the Chinese Economy

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview of the issues, approaches, and problems of American economists who have studied China’s economy in recent decades, beginning with research done before the 1980s. Data access problems defined the field at that time. New research opportunities that emerged in conjunction with reform in China and improved U.S.-China relations are discussed next. The impact these changes had on the field are then seen from a review of research done since 1980. This review underscores the importance of data in allowing a variety of methods and issues, but it also suggests that data problems are far from over. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the study of the Chinese economy as it relates to Chinese area studies and to the economics discipline generally

Sustaining China’s Economic Growth: New Leaders, New Directions?

An American specialist on the economy of China assesses the options and obstacles the country\u27s new leadership will face as it attempts to sustain the current economic growth trajectory in the future. Putting the current situation in historical context, the author first reviews the reforms leading up to the agenda advanced by the previous leadership team (led by Hu Jintao) and then examines the health of China\u27s economy in late 2012 (a situation she argues is characterized by the exhaustion of three key drivers of growth). The paper advances the thesis that further reforms and improvements in technology will be essential to sustained growth, and that additional reforms will be necessary before sustained innovation can take root. As signs of successful further reform going forward, readers are advised to look to increased private-sector legitimacy, a decline in state-sector monopoly power, and strengthening of legal foundations for reform policies

Options for Market Reform in China

Reviews the book, `Reform in China and other Socialist Economies\u27 by Jan S. Prybyla and `Effective Reform in China: An Agenda,\u27 by Henry K. H. Woo