Provincial Development in China: Lessons from EU Regional Policy Experience

Abstract

This article evaluates and compares regional development in the Chinese provinces and in the regions of the European Union (EU) countries. Development efforts in southern Italy, northeast England and eastern Germany are reviewed along with EU, Community-wide regional development programmes. Equity concerns suggest promotion of regional policy, but the pursuit of maximum national economic growth would avoid it, since it sacrifices some economic growth. The impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic investments on individual Chinese provinces is compared with their impact in Europe. There is an implicit contrast between public sector regional development programs and more effective private foreign direct investments.