A Bridge on Economic Issues between China and the World
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What Is Special about China’s Housing Boom?
Edward L. Glaeser, Wei Huang, Yueran Ma, Andrei Shleifer, Jun 20, 2017The spectacular ongoing housing boom in China has generated great concerns around the world about the risk of a housing bust on the Chinese economy and the world economy. This column by four Harvard economists compares this housing boom with that experienced by the U.S. in 2000s and dissects its distinct characteristics — its fundamental support, enormous construction, and the delicate role played by government policies.
Privatization and Productivity in China
Yuyu Chen, Mitsuru Igami, Masayuki Sawada, Mo Xiao, Jan 31, 2018Privatization has boosted Chinese firms’ productivity, both in the short run and the long run. Consumer-oriented industries saw larger gains than “strategic” (heavily regulated) sectors. Chinese patents and “new product” surveys seem less reliable, because any statistics become useless once they become policy targets.
The Burden of Education Costs in China: A Struggle for All, but Heavier for Lower-Income Families
Dezhuang Hu, Hongbin Li, Tang Li, Lingsheng Meng, Binh Thai Nguyen, Mar 27, 2024Household education expenditure in China accounts for a substantial portion of household income, averaging around 17.1%, and it is inversely related to household income. As a necessity, education expenditure imposes excessively high costs on lower-income families. China needs to formulate policies to alleviate the financial burden on families, reform the school system, and enhance educational equity.
Book Synopsis The Making of an Economic Superpower: Unlocking China’s Secret of Rapid Industrialization
Yi Wen, Sep 27, 2017This book argues that China’s rapid industrialization since 1978 can be attributed to its rediscovery of the secret recipe of the original Industrial Revolution. The secret recipe is not based on institutional changes per se but rather the sequential creation of mass markets to support mass production. Market creation requires a strong state and appropriate industrial policies because mass markets are a public good that is extremely costly to create and can only be created through stages and under enormous political stability and social trust.
How did China Move Up the Global Value Chains?
Hiau Looi Kee, Heiwai Tang, Aug 30, 2017The paper examines China's rising domestic content in exports using firm and customs transaction-level data. China's domestic content in exports increased from 65 percent in 2000 to 70 percent in 2007. The key reason for China’s ascent on global value chains is due to individual processing exporters substituting domestic products for imported materials, induced by the country’s trade and FDI liberalizations.
