China＇s Sustained Economic Growth： Do Direct R＆D Spillovers Matter？

Using data from 1986-2005, the present paper estimates the impact of direct knowledge spilled over from G-7 countries on China＇s economy. We use telephone line penetration rates andpersonnel flows to estimate the direct spillover effect. Our results show that direct knowledge spillovers through telecommunication networks and personnelflows are important components of international R＆D spillovers in China. These direct channels of spillover effectively accelerate China＇s economic growth. Therefore, China should invest more in human capital and in its telecommunication network to enhance the absorptive capacity of direct R＆D spillovers, and to increase communication with other nations, in particular the USA and Japan. More subsidies to domestic R＆D research and purchase of intermediate goods will help to raise China＇s R＆D intensity.     

Employment Effectiveness of China＇s Economic Stimulus Package

Using an input--output method, this paper simulates the impacts of the global financial crisis and the decline of exports on China＇s economy and employment. With shrinking external demand, boosting domestic demand becomes crucial for maintaining economic growth and promoting employment. Our simulated results indicate that an investment scenario with employment as a priority can achieve the objective of employment maximization without significantly reducing growth. Public investment should focus on employment, education, health, housing and social security to rebalance China＇s economy so that it can realize sustained and stable economic growth.     

The Choice of Exchange Rate Regime： The Relevance of International Experience to China＇s Decision

The Chinese exchange rate has been the focus of discussion for many months, with both internal and external considerations seemingly pointing to the desirability of a currency revaluation. This paper draws from the lessons of international experience with exchangerate regimes in the period since Worm War Two. It lays out the conditions necessary to validate a fixed exchange rate and some intermediate regimes that might work when a fixed rate is inappropriate. It then discusses what the analysis implies for contemporary China.     

China‘s Economic Growth：New Trends and Implications

I. IntroductionSince the "reform and opening up" policy began in 1978, China has sustained high growth. This success is associated with a gradual market-oriented reform. A central feature of this gradual reform is that the dominant state-owned enterprises have not been directly privatized; instead, the government chose to gradually introduce market forces into the economy, and at the same time, gradually reduce restrictions on the development of market-oriented non-state-owned enterprises, especially rural collective enterprises.     

The Research on the Relation between China＇s Accession to WTO and China＇s Economic Development under the Theory of Comparative Advantage

According to the theory of comparative advantage, the relation between China＇s accession to WTO and China＇s economic development is studied. And a positive conclusion is presented in this article.     

China＇s Construction Land Expansion and Economic Growth： A Capital-output Ratio Based Analysis

Since 2003, the Chinese Government has included land policy as an important component of macroeconomic policy. The present paper analyzes the impact of the expansion of construction land on economic growth in terms of the capital-output ratio. Using provincial panel data for China from 1999to 2005, we conclude that the excess expansion of China＇s construction land led to an increase in the capital-output ratio. Therefore, expanding construction land has made little contribution to economic growth. This paper argues that contractionary land policy does not deter high economic growth, and is a necessary condition for sustainable economic growth.     

A Study of Sustainable Development of China＇s State-Level Economic and Technological Development Zones

State-level economic and technological development zones (ETDZs) are products of China‘s reform and opening-up policies and a new engine of growth for the Chinese economy. They have made tremendous contributions to the development of the Chinese economy. However,some problems have emerged in the course of this progress and new challenges are still lying ahead. Sustainable development is possible only when the strategy and objectives of development are adjusted, when the integrated investment environment is optimized, when industries are upgraded, when technical innovations are made, when independent innovation capabilities are lifted, when the mode of economic growth is changed, and when innovations are made in government management.     

Decomposing the Effects of FDI on Guangdong＇s Economic Growth

Guangdong has been experiencing rapid economic growth, while this rapid growth was accompanied by a boom in inward foreign investment and the establishment of a direct link with the outside world. Using city-level panel data from 1996 to 2002, the four-year moving fixed effects FDI-led growth model empirically shows that Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan （HMT） investment will not continue to make up the bulk of FDI in Guangdong for long, and that its dominant influence on Guangdong＇s economic growth will be gradually replaced by other sources of investment in the near future due to various political and economical reasons.     

The Case for Stabilizing China＇s Exchange Rate： Setting the Stage for Fiscal Expansion

China＇s financial conundrum arises from two sources. First, its large saving （trade） surplus results in a currency mismatch because it is an immature creditor that cannot lend in its own currency. Instead, foreign currency claims （largely US dollars） build up within domestic financial institutions. Second, economists, both American and Chinese, mistakenly attribute the surpluses to an undervalued RMB. To placate the USA, the result was a gradual and predictable appreciation of the RMB against the dollar of 6 percent or more per year from July 2005 to July 2008. Together with the fall in US interest rates since mid-2007, this one- way bet in the foreign exchanges markets not only attracted hot money inflows but inhibited private capital outflows from financing China＇ s huge trade surplus. Therefore, the People＇s Bank of China had to intervene heavily to prevent the RMB from ratcheting upwards, and so became the country＇s sole international financial intermediary as official exchange reserves exploded Because of the currency mismatch, floating the RMB is neither feasible nor desirable, and a higher RMB would not reduce China＇ s trade surplus. Instead, monetary control and normal private-sector finance for the trade surplus require a return to a credibly fixed nominal RMB/USD rate similar to that which existed between 1995 and 2004. However, for any newly reset RMB/USD rate to be credible as a monetary anchor, foreign ＂China bashing＂ to get the RMB up must end. Then the stage would be set for fiscal expansion to both stimulate the economy and reduce its trade surplus.     

China＇s Economic Prospects and Sino-US Economic Relations

A better comprehension of the mixed sentiment in the rest of world towards the rapid rise of the Chinese economy will depend on the understanding of some key features of the Chinese economy, such as those associated with its size, structure and institution. To further sustain its high growth, China is facing more challenges than it has encountered in the past 2 decades, including a gamut of material constraints. Although polices and technological progress might alleviate many of these constraints, the ultimate solution will still lie in continued institutional reform. China's recent move towards a more flexible exchange rate regime is in line with its broad reform and in accordance with the progress of its development. However, such a move will have limited immediate effects on the prodigious US trade deficit, which itself is a problem rooted in the flawed international reserve system, far beyond a Sino‐US trade issue. Edited by Xiaoming Feng     

Is the Export-led Growth Hypothesis Enough to Account for China＇s Growth？

One of the missing pieces preventing us from understanding recent Chinese economic development is the role played by openness and capital accumulation in this process. The question is whether the sharp economic＇ growth that the Chinese economy has experienced is another case of export-led growth due to the open-door policy or whether, on the contrary, this growth has been caused by high domestic savings and investment rates （and the consequent capital accumulation）. To answer this question, we employed an empirical framework of the cointegrated vector autoregressive model. The empirical results show that both investment （in physieal capital and R＆D） and exports, as well as the exchange rate policy, are relevant factors in explaining China＇s long-run economic growth over the past 4 decades.     

Rethinking Fast Growth in China＇s Foreign Exchange Reserves

I. Introduction Since 2000, China’s foreign exchange reserves have been growing fast. By the end of 2001, China’s foreign exchange reserves had exceeded US$200bn and by the end of 2002 had reached US$286.4bn. By the end of 2003, it had reached US$403.3bn and in 2004 it reached US$609.9bn. In 1999, China’s foreign exchange reserves accounted for 15.6 percent of its GDP. The ratio has been growing continually and was 36.88 percent of GDP by 2004 (see Table 1), making China the second…     

The Reform on Equilibrium Exchange Rate and Intervention Models of Renminbi＇s Exchange Rate

This paper establishes a theoretical analysis framework by integrating both the foreign exchange rate regime and the issue of financial globalization. It also deals with the research and analysis on how to prudently push forward the reform on renminbi （RMB）＇s exchange rate, adjust and institute the free convertibility of RMB, so as to meet the demands of further expansion of the Chinese economic and financial reform and opening-up, participation in the economic and financial globalization, integration into the global economy and the acceleration of the Chinese economy, against the backdrop of financial globalization.     

China＇s Exchange Rate and Financial Repression： The Conflicted Emergence of the RMB as an International Currency

Instability in the worm dollar standard, as most recently manifested in the US Federal Reserve＇s near-zero interest rate policy, has caused consternation in emerging markets with naturally higher interest rates. China has been provoked into speeding RMB ＂internationalization ＂; that is, opening up domestic financial markets to reduce its dependence on the US dollar for invoicing trade and making international payments. However, despite rapid percentage growth in offshore financial markets in RMB, the Chinese authorities are essentially trapped into maintaining exchange controls （reinforced by financial repression in domestic interest rates） to avoid an avalanche of foreign capital inflows that would threaten inflation and asset price bubbles by driving nominal interest rates on RMB assets down further. Because a floating （appreciating） exchange rate could attract even more hot money inflows, the People＇s Bank of China should focus on keeping the yuan/dollar rate stable so as to encourage naturally high wage increases to help balance China ＂s international competitiveness. However, further internationalization of the RMB, as with the proposed Shanghai pilot free trade zone, is best deferred until world interest rates rise to more normal levels.     

Productivity Growth in the Chinese Economy by Industry and the Role of Foreign Capital

I. IntroductionIt is well known that China’s reform and open-up policy initiated in 1978 had an extremelylarge impact on the Chinese economy. This policy represented an about-face against thetraditional self-reconstruction strategy that China had maintained since the founding ofthe people’s Republic in 1949. Although China’s economy temporarily fell into confusionfor a few years after the Tian-an-men incident in 1989, China continued to record high GDPgrowth. Moreover, after Deng Xiao…     

Analysis of China＇s Foreign Trade Growth and Discussion of Related Policies

China’s foreign trade experienced three consecutive years of super-speed growth in 2002-2004, even though the country was stricken by the SARS epidemic in 2003 and power shortages in 2004. What has gone beyond expectations is that the exports trade still grew with momentum after the central government lowered the export rebate rates by an average of 3 percentage points, starting from January 2004. Such growth momentum is apparently associated with external demand and the performance of the domestic macroeconomy, and even more associated with a series of support policies. This paper tries to raise issues issues associated with these policies on the basis of an analysis of foreign trade performance in 2002-2004, in order to enhance understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of these policies, and to recommend a new line of thought for improving policy arrangements for the growth of import and export trade and for the harmonious development of the macroeconomy.     

Real Exchange Rate in China：A Long-run Perspective

This paper investigates the RMB exchange rate from a long‐run viewpoint. Whether China's rapid economic growth brought about real exchange rate appreciation between 1975 and 2002 is empirically examined, based on a supply‐side model, the Balassa—Semuelson Hypothesis (BSH). The same test is conducted on Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and India. Our result indicates that the BSH only exists where the industrial structure has been upgraded and the economy has been successfully transformed from an agricultural economy to a manufacturing economy. Interestingly, China, among those where the BSH does not present, appears to be upgrading its industrial and trade structure. We then try to answer the question of why past rapid growth has no significant relationship with the RMB real exchange rate and what factors are underlying the trend of the RMB real exchange rate. We expect an appreciating trend of RMB real exchange rate in the foreseeable future, presuming that China's industrial upgrading process continues and the factors pertaining to the BSH's prediction, such as rise of wage rates in both tradables and nontradables, become more significant. (Edited by Xiaoming Feng)     

Long-Term Development Trend of China＇s Economy and Importance of the Circular Economy

This paper aims to explore the solution to the contradiction between economic growth and resources and the eco-environment, based on an analysis of the features of China‘s economic development trend within a given future period, by promoting a new paradigm of technological economy, and speeding up development of the circular economy.     

Innovation or Rent-seeking： The Entrepreneurial Behavior during China＇s Economic Transformation

Although achieving impressive economic growth during the economic reform period, China has been plagued by rampant corruption and a widening income gap. How can the coexistence of these two phenomena be explained？ In this paper, we argue that before 1994, the coexistence was induced by a series of expediential institutional arrangements to stimulate entrepreneurial activities and after 1994, it was entrenched because of the slow progress in the overall reform toward becoming a market economy and because of inappropriate government actions and the lack of government action in institutional building. To solve these problems, economic and political reforms need to be accelerated to improve market institutions and to establish the rule of law.