China's increasing openness to foreign direct investment (FDI) has contributed importantly to its exceptional growth performance. This paper examines China's experience with FDI and identifies some lessons for other countries. Most of the factors explaining China's success have also been important in attracting FDI to other countries: market size, labor costs, quality of infrastructure, and government policies. FDI has contributed to higher investment and productivity growth, and has created jobs and a dynamic export sector. China's success, however, did not come without some pitfalls: an increasingly complex tax incentive system and growing regional income disparities. Accession to the WTO should broaden China's "opening up" policies and continue FDI's contributions to China's economy in the future.

Foreign Direct Investment and the Chinese Economy provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of foreign direct investment, with extensive empirical evidence, on the Chinese economy over the last three and a half decades.

First published in 1997, this volume emerged in the wake of China’s Open Door policy. Qu and Green focus on the spatial aspects of foreign direct investment within China. They aim to locate FDI within a subnational context, with particular reference to the Chinese experience between 1979 and 1993. Issues explored include the philosophy, objectives and process of inducing FDI, the choice of cities and the country of origin effect. Issues explored include the philosophy, objectives and process of inducing FDI, the choice of cities and the country of origin effect.

This book provides a selection of papers presented at the Foreign Direct Investment in China’s Regional Development Conference, organised in Xian on 11-12 October 2001 at the request of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation.

Foreign Direct Investment and the Chinese Economy provides a comprehensive overview of the impact of foreign direct investment, with extensive empirical evidence, on the Chinese economy over the last three and a half decades. Chunlai Chen presents a compelling and thorough analysis of the leading theoretical explanations of the impact of FDI through a series of rigorous and in-depth empirical investigations on China's regional economic growth, urban-rural income inequality and urbanization development. These case studies show that despite FDI's contribution to economic growth, reduction of income inequality and the rise in urbanization, there is further evidence of uneven regional distribution of FDI inflow. This has negatively affected economic growth, exacerbated income inequality and impeded urbanization of inland China. The book concludes by demonstrating that these findings have important policy implications, not only for China, but also for other developing countries influenced by the implementation of FDI policies. This work of highly focused theoretical analysis is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of economics as well as policy-makers who are interested in the Chinese economy.

'For readers looking for a comprehensive rigorously quantitative analysis of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, there is no better work than Chunlai Chen's Foreign Direct Investment in China. In the book he analyzes a wide range of issues ranging from the contribution of FDI to China's growth to why FDI is concentrated in certain Chinese provinces and not others. Readers with an economics or statistical background will get the most out of the book, but it is accessible and informative for many others.' Dwight H. Perkins, Harvard University, US Foreign Direct Investment in China is one of the most comprehensive studies of FDI in China and provides a remarkable background of information on the evolution of China's FDI policies over the last 30 years. Chunlai Chen presents a compelling and thorough analysis of the leading theoretical explanations of FDI and a series of rigorous empirical examinations of the location determinants of FDI. He examines a comprehensive analysis of the differences in investment and production behaviour between the major investors as well as an in-depth investigation of the impacts of FDI on China's economy. This book is a highly focused and unique work of theoretical analysis and empirical study of FDI in China. It is a valuable and important reference for scholars and students who are interested in FDI in general and in Chinese economic studies in particular.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) is blamed for being one of the main factors widening regional inequality in Chinese regions since it is highly unevenly distributed spatially. If this logic were true, then controlling the scale of FDI could be a solution to reduce regional inequality. However, it is difficult to reconcile the positive effect of FDI on economic growth with its potential “negative” effect on regional inequality. Using the largest panel dataset covering all the Chinese regions over the entire period 1979-2003 and employing an augmented Cobb-Douglas production function, this paper proves that FDI has been an important factor responsible for regional growth differences in China. However, it suggests that FDI cannot be blamed for rising regional inequality. It is the uneven distribution of FDI instead of FDI itself that has caused regional growth differences. The research results have important policy implications on regional development in China relating to FDI.