This paper assesses the sustainability of China's export-oriented growth over the medium to longer term. It shows that maintaining the current export-oriented growth would require significant gains in market share through lower prices in a range of industries. This, in turn, could be achieved through a combination of increases in productivity, lower profits, and higher implicit or explicit subsidies to industry. However, the evidence suggest that it will prove difficult to accommodate such price reductions within existing profit margins or through productivity gains. Moving up the value-added chain, shifting the composition of exports, diversifying the export base, and increasing domestic value added of exports could give room to further export expansion. However, experiences from Asian economies that had similar export-oriented growth suggest there are limits to the global market share a country can occupy. Rebalancing growth toward private consumption would provide a large impetus to output growth and reduce the need for gaining further market share.

Most western economists have denied the linkage between the rise in the skill premium in the North and North-South trade. Their main argument is that the volume of Southern exports is too small (about 2% of Northern GDP) to produce large labor-market effects. By exploring the nature of North-to-South outsourcing of low skill activities, we propose a CGE model in which a small volume of imports (e.g. 1% of Northern GDP) can cause the observed rise in skill premium. The implication of this is that trade may eventually be recognized as responsible for widening wage inequality, leading to heightened protectionist pressures in the west. Hence China's current export oriented development strategy is not sustainable.

A pressing challenge for China is determining where to accommodate millions of migrant workers displaced by the closing of many export-oriented factories. The current global financial crisis has exposed the fragility of the export-led growth strategy China has adopted over the past 30 years. Is there a better alternative for providing non-agricultural jobs than the sweatshops of cheap export production? In the present paper, international experience is reviewed to shed light on China's situation. Using pooled regression models, we analyze data from the World Bank for 209 economies. We investigate the experience of other economies to answer the following questions: What is the common process of expanding the non-agricultural economy? How is that process affected by the level of the real exchange rate? Is export production a common way of absorbing surplus rural labor? Finally, what are the ways that domestic demand and service employment can be expanded?

This two-volume book addresses the economic transformation occurring in China at present. The author investigates China's domestic and international policies, the impact of these policies on economic growth, and their effect on the quality of life for the people of China. In the first volume, the author distinguishes between economic growth and sustainable economic development, and discusses China's current and past economic policies towards growth. Chapters also explore the structural transformation of China's economy and its increasingly consumer-oriented nature. The second volume looks more specifically at the result of domestic policies on the quality of life for people living in China. The author examines the distribution of income, the alleviation of poverty, the Chinese education system, and the environmental cost of economic growth. These volumes will be of particular interest to researchers and scholars concerned with China's emerging economic power.

How will China reform its economy as it aspires to become the next economic superpower? It's clear that China is the world's next economic superpower. But what isn't so clear is how China will get there by the middle of this century. It now faces tremendous challenges such as fostering innovation, dealing with ageing problem and coping with a less accommodative global environment. In this book, economists from China's leading university and America's best-known think tank offer in depth analyses of these challenges. Does China have enough talent and right policy and institutional mix to transit from input-driven to innovation-driven economy? What does ageing mean, in terms of labor supply, consumption demand and social welfare expenditure? Can China contain the environmental and climate change risks? How should the financial system be transformed in order to continuously support economic growth and keep financial risks under control? What fiscal reforms are required in order to balance between economic efficiency and social harmony? What roles should the state-owned enterprises play in the future Chinese economy? In addition, how will technological competition between the United States and China affect each country's development? Will the Chinese yuan emerge as a major reserve currency, and would this destabilize the international financial system? What will be China's role in the international economic institutions? And will the United States and other established powers accept a growing role for China and the rest of the developing world in the governance of global institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, or will the world devolve into competing blocs? This book provides unique insights into independent analyses and policy recommendations by a group of top Chinese and American scholars. Whether China succeeds or fails in economic reform will have a large impact, not just on China's development, but also on stability and prosperity for the whole world.

This paper examines the contribution of exports to growth in China since the early years of the decade. It is estimated that, despite a high import content ranging between 40 and 50 percent, approximately one-third of Chinese growth before the global crisis was a result of exports, due to their phenomenal growth of some 25 percent per annum. This figure increases to 50 percent if spillovers to consumption and investment are allowed for. The main reason for excessive dependence on foreign markets is underconsumption. This is due not so much to a high share of household savings in GDP as to a low share of household income and a high share of profits. It is argued that China can no longer maintain such high growth rates for its exports, and, therefore, needs to turn to consumption-led growth by expanding the share of wages and household income in GDP and accelerating public spending in social infrastructure.