Economic development in mainland China during the first two decades of Communist control provides a typical example for the difficult task to transform a vast underdeveloped agrarian economy into a modern industrial one. In the first half of this period, a series of massive transformations of social and economic institutions was accompanied by a drafted industrialization program; the result was an impressive speed-up in economic growth. The second decade witnessed an economic crisis (1960–62) and a political upheaval (1966–68). These disruptions marred the economic performance over the period as a whole. Consequently, the long-term growth rate appears to have been only moderate. The Economy of Communist China reviews selected aspects of the economy. After examining the development strategy, it analyzes the quantitative trends and the structural changes. The book goes on to analyze the key factors contributing to the earlier growth and the elements responsible for the later disruption and finally assesses the impact of the Cultural Revolution on the Chinese economy and the prospects of the current Third Five-Year Plan. The text includes a bibliography of selected materials on Chinese economic development.

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The book builds on an important emergent body of discussion which questions, both empirically and theoretically, the conventional neoclassical doctrine that economies are more efficient if the state withdraws from it. It develops a “space-time” approach to state theory as a way of explaining development outcomes in the global economy as the latter increasingly shifts to what is referred to as “knowledge capitalism”. It examines two global cases – Finland and China – as expressions of two broad models of successful development punctuated most recently by successful responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. It also contrasts both cases with the unsuccessful development of Brazil and Argentina toward “knowledge capitalism” and the ramifications of that for their efforts to combat Covid-19. This book will be of interest to academics in economics, politics and international relations.

The tremendous success of China's economic reform, in contrast with the vast difficulties encountered by the former Soviet Union and Eastern European countries in their transition, has attracted worldwide attention. Using a historical, comparative and analytic approach grounded in mainstream economics, the authors develop a consistent and rational framework of state-owned enterprises and individual agents to analyze the internal logic of the traditional planning system. They also explain why the Chinese economy grew slowly before the market-oriented reform in 1979 but became one of the fastest growing economies afterwards, and why the vigour/chaos cycle became part of China's reform process. The book also addresses to the questions that whether China can continue its trend of reform and development and become the largest economy in the world in the early 21st century, and what the general implications of China's experience of development and reform are for other developing and transition economies. The first edition has been well-received and is the standard textbook or reference for students and researchers of China studies. In this thoroughly revised edition, the authors have updated the data and information in the book and include a new chapter on the impact of China's WTO accession on its economic reforms and causes of the current deflation.