China's Export‐led Growth Strategy: An International Comparison

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?