China Caught in the “Middle-Income Trap”?

Since 2010–2011, China’s economy has slowed considerably, raising concerns that the country could fall into the so-called “middle-income trap” (MIT). Obviously, an MIT in China would have serious negative consequences not only for the Chinese population but also for the world economy as a whole. We examine whether China is or will be in an MIT by focusing on the empirical MIT definitions and the MIT triggering factors identified in the literature. We show that dependent on the choice of MIT definition, different MIT statements can be derived. Our triggering factor analysis reveals that while China performs quite well regarding its export structure, it must improve human capital accumulation and total factor productivity to avoid falling into an MIT.

Industry/Policy View Post-COVID-19 Reconfiguration of the Global Value Chains and China

Industry/Policy View Assessing China’s Financial Risk: Evidence from the Stock Market

VoxChina welcomes views from industry reports and policy reports.This piece summaries the views about China’s financial risk from - Hao Zhou, the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University, Haibin Zhu, J.P. Morgan and Xiangpeng Chen, the PBC School of Finance at Tsinghua University.

China’s “Great Leap Forward” in Science and Engineering

From "Made in China" to "Innovated in China" can occur only if China produces a large number of scientists and engineers. Richard B. Freeman of Harvard University documents China's "Great Leap Forward" in science and engineering in the past decades in the number of engineers and scientists, the number of scientific papers, patents and innovations.

Gaokao, Ability, and Occupation Choice

In China, the college entrance exam score is predictive for both firm success and wage-job success in the future, yet higher-score individuals are less likely to create firms.