A political-economic analysis of how China has been able to avoid hyperinflation while maintaining high annual growth rates.

In this book, Yasheng Huang makes a provocative claim: the large absorption of foreign direct investment (FDI) by China is a sign of some substantial weaknesses in the Chinese economy. The primary benefits associated with China's FDI inflows are concerned with the privatization functions supplied by foreign firms, venture capital provisions to credit-constrained private entrepreneurs, and promotion of interregional capital mobility. Huang argues that one should ask why domestic firms cannot supply the same functions. China's partial reforms, while successful in increasing the scope of the market, have so far failed to address many allocative inefficiencies in the Chinese economy.

China is the largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) among developing countries. This study compares China's FDI performance with a number of other Asian countries and focuses on the policy and institutional factors that lead to a large demand for FDI in China. The policy and institutional factors include import substitution, excess investment demand and features of China's FDI regulatory system. The study shows that there are costs associated with such a high demand for FDI, including overbidding for FDI and the associated loss of Chinese bargaining power, large import demand, and the structure of the FDI at variance with Chinese official policies. This study also briefly discusses the foreign economic policy implications of China's FDI absorption and suggests some future research possibilities.