China's Economy

The rise of China is the single most important economic and geopolitical development, and this book provides a concise, easy-to-read guide to how China works, where it's going, and what it means for the rest of the world.

China's economic growth has been revolutionary, and is the foundation of its increasingly prominent role in world affairs. It is the world's second biggest economy, the largest manufacturing and trading nation, the consumer of half the world's steel and coal, the biggest source of international tourists, and one of the most influential investors in developing countries from southeast Asia to Africa to Latin America. Multinational companies make billions of dollars in profits in China each year, while traders around the world shudder at every gyration of the country's unruly stock markets. Perhaps paradoxically, its capitalist economy is governed by an authoritarian Communist Party that shows no sign of loosening its grip.

China is frequently in the news, whether because of trade disputes, the challenges of its Belt and Road initiative for global infrastructure, or its increasing military strength. China's political and technological challenges, created by a country whose political system and values differ dramatically from most of the other major world economies, creates uncertainty and even fear.

China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know is a concise introduction to the most astonishing economic and political story of the last three decades. Arthur Kroeber enhances our understanding of China's changes and their implications. Among the essential questions he answers are: How did China grow so fast for so long? Can it keep growing and still solve its problems of environmental damage, fast-rising debt and rampant corruption? How long can its vibrant economy co-exist with the repressive one-party state? How do China's changes affect the rest of the world?

This thoroughly revised and updated second edition includes a comprehensive discussion of the origins and development of the US-China strategic rivalry, including Trump's trade war and the race for technological supremacy. It also explores the recent changes in China's political system, reflecting Xi Jinping's emergence as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. It includes insights on changes in China's financial sector, covering the rise and fall of the shadow banking sector, and China's increasing integration with global financial markets. And it covers China's rapid technological development and the rise of its global Internet champions such as Alibaba and Tencent.

Few have watched the development of the Chinese economy as closely as Arthur Kroeber. [China's Economy] is a wide-ranging and authoritative primer on the history and development of China's unique blend of decentralized economic authoritarianism.

Autorentext
Arthur R. Kroeber is founding partner and managing director of Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm focusing on China with offices in Hong Kong and Beijing. Before establishing Dragonomics in 2002, he spent 15 years as a financial and economic journalist in China and South Asia. He is senior non-resident fellow at the Brookings-Tsinghua Center in Beijing, adjunct professor at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and at the NYU Stern School of Business, and a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Inhalt

• Preface

• Acknowledgments

• 1. Why China Matters
• 2. Population, Geography, and History
• 3. China's Political Economy
• 4. Agriculture, Land, and the Rural Economy
• 5. Industry, Exports, and Technology
• 6. Urbanization and Infrastructure
• 7. The Enterprise System
• 8. The Government Finance System
• 9. The Financial System
• 10. Energy and the Environment
• 11. Demographics and the Labor Market
• 12. The Emerging Consumer Economy
• 13. The Social Compact
• 14. Changing the Growth Model
• 15. China and the World: Is Conflict Inevitable?

• For Further Reading

• Notes

• Index