Abstract: | Despite the phenomenal success of China's economic reform, the Chinese economy encounters a series of increasingly perilous problems, such as the recurrence of a "boon-and-bust" cycle, inflation, corruption, and regional disparity. This paper argues that the root of these problems is the discrepancy between the reforms in the macropolicy environment and the reforms in the micro-management institution and resource allocation system. In October 1993, the Chinese government introduced a reform package in a bid to make the macro-policy environment more consistent with the liberalized micro-management institution and resource allocation system. However, the traditional macro-policy environment was formed endogenously to facilitate implementing the "catching-up and forging-ahead" development strategy. Unless, the Chinese government abandons that strategy, it cannot complete the reforms in the macro-policy environment and it cannot uproot the problems appearing in the reform process. |