Ma Jianzhong was a close adviser to the powerful Qing government official, Li Hong-zhang, and wrote several essays between 1878 and 1890 outlining his plans for economic and administrative reform. He was the first Chinese to advocate the creation of a specialized and professional diplomatic corps. His contribution to the late nineteenth-century Chinese discourse on the state and the economy has hitherto been neglected. Paul Bailey's translation of his essays will contribute to a wider understanding of the origins and circulation of reform ideas in the late Qing.

Ma Jianzhong was a close adviser to the powerful Qing government official, Li Hong-zhang, and wrote several essays between 1878 and 1890 outlining his plans for economic and administrative reform. He was the first Chinese to advocate the creation of a specialized and professional diplomatic corps. His contribution to the late nineteenth-century Chinese discourse on the state and the economy has hitherto been neglected. Paul Bailey's translation of his essays will contribute to a wider understanding of the origins and circulation of reform ideas in the late Qing.

They Have a Word for It takes the reader to the far corners of the globe to discover words and phrases for which there are not equivalents in English. From the North Pole to New Guinea, from Easter Island to Tibet, Howard Rheingold explores more than forty familiar and obscure languages to discover genuinely useful (rather than simply odd) words that can open up new ways of understanding and experiencing life. --Sarabande Books.

"[This book] examines the costs and benefits of both a targeted and a universal prekindergarten program and shows the positive impact of these programs on the economy, federal and state budgets, and the educational achievement and earnings of children and adults."--Book jacket.

This book is about where to go and what to do in China’s reform. Its comprehensive overview and economic analysis of China’s reform offers a coverage not found in other English language text. It provides an overview of China’s development and reform practice, an economic analysis of China’s market-oriented reform and a brief introduction to the theoretical origin, practices, and defects of the planned economy. In so doing, this book demonstrates that the key to the success of China’s reform lies in drawing reasonable governance boundaries between government and the market and between government and society. It further discusses the basic elements required for modernizing China’s state governance system and conducts an analysis of China’s reform and development in 13 key fields. The analysis is based on three dimensions—theoretical logic, practical knowledge, and a historical perspective. This book proposes three elements of comprehensive state governance—inclusive economic institutions; the state capacity to plan and implement policies and laws; and an inclusive and transparent civil society with democracy, the rule of law, fairness, and justice. Its analysis also features the novel application of mechanism design theory by employing the two core ideas of information and incentives and a new research methodology consisting of “three dimensions and six natures”. This book reviews and grasps China’s reform through a qualitative analysis of economic theories and an empirical analysis of statistics from a historical perspective spanning over 180 years. It is proposed to be an important reference for understanding the past, present, and future of China’s reform and teaching about the potential economic superpower. It can also serve as an essential resource for those who are interested in China's economic reform and development.

The Nature, the Performance, and the Reform of State-owned Enterprises provides a detailed description of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China with respect to both efficiency and income distribution. It shows that state ownership in the form of SOEs does not use resources efficiently and has a poor record in income distribution. Moreover, SOEs are found to enjoy unfair advantages in their competition with other firms. To illustrate the point, the book presents data revealing how favored policies, monopolistic powers, and subsidies benefit SOEs. These advantages are worth several trillion yuans a year. It is a sad irony that such wealth of the people is used to beef up the revenues of the SOEs, making their accounts look much better than they should be.This book, with its rich empirical data and information, is an authoritative reference for researchers interested in SOEs. It is also a good read for students of social sciences and the public to learn more about SOEs.

The official monthly record of United States foreign policy.

This volume comprises twelve papers written by Chinese scholars on various aspects of the history of ancient Chinese economic thought. The contributions are preceded by an introduction which gives an overview of the development of the subject of history of economic thought in China, and which also provides an historical context to the individuals who constitute the major "schools" of ancient Chinese economic thought. The authors of the papers are leading scholars who have dominated this research area since the founding of New China in 1949, while the broad range of topics covered by the contributions includes questions of methodology, detailed and sometimes controversial interpretations of texts and "schools", and the international influence and modern relevance of ancient Chinese thought. A recurrent theme is that ancient Chinese thought has at least as much to offer to the historian as ancient Western thought. As the first such volume of papers to be translated into English, this collection provides a unique opportunity for non-Chinese readers to sample the way in which Chinese historians of economics have attempted to understand their own intellectual heritage. This book will be relevant to scholars interested in the history of economic thought, economic history and Chinese studies.

Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States