IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/chinae/v26y2018i2p1-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Perceiving Truth and Ceasing Doubts: What Can We Learn from 40 Years of China's Reform and Opening up?

Author

Listed:
  • Fang Cai

Abstract

China's reform, opening up and resultant economic growth in the past 40 years have led to the accumulation of an immense array of experiences, which economists are obligated to look into, analyze and theorize upon. In fact, the rich literature in this area has positively assessed and documented China's successful experiences. However, theories that were established in Western countries have been applied as doctrine to judge China's experiences. By adopting an analytical framework unifying historical logic and theoretical logic, the purpose of this paper is to reveal the unique Chinese experience and its relevance to the general laws of economic development. Based on the experiences of and in reference to research findings about China, this paper chronicles the process of reform, opening up and economic growth, and analyzes the nexus between them. The study demystifies how the incentive mechanism, the factor accumulation and allocation system, market development, and macro policy environment reforms have spurred China's economic growth, structural changes and the increase in productivity. The changes in development stage are examined and policy implications for further reform are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Fang Cai, 2018. "Perceiving Truth and Ceasing Doubts: What Can We Learn from 40 Years of China's Reform and Opening up?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 26(2), pages 1-22, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:26:y:2018:i:2:p:1-22
    DOI: 10.1111/cwe.12234
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12234
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/cwe.12234?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kwan, Yum K. & Chow, Gregory C., 1996. "Estimating Economic Effects of Political Movements in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 192-208, October.
    2. Loren Brandt & Debin Ma & Thomas G. Rawski, 2014. "From Divergence to Convergence: Reevaluating the History behind China's Economic Boom," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 45-123, March.
    3. Xudong Gao & Yajun Wu & Mingfang Li, 2010. "Managing complexity in the process of transforming new start-ups into well established firms in the Chinese economy context," International Journal of Business and Systems Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 4(5/6), pages 577-595.
    4. Lin, Justin Yifu, 1992. "Rural Reforms and Agricultural Growth in China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(1), pages 34-51, March.
    5. Huang,Yasheng, 2008. "Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521898102, September.
    6. Alwyn Young, 2003. "Gold into Base Metals: Productivity Growth in the People's Republic of China during the Reform Period," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(6), pages 1220-1261, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Wei Zou & Ruiqi Ma, 2024. "An Extended Family Perspective on Intergenerational Human Capital Transmission in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 1101-1139, September.
    2. Xuefeng Qian & Kalsoom Rafique & Yingna Wu, 2020. "Flying with the Dragon: Estimating Developing Countries’ Gains from China's Imports," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 28(5), pages 1-25, September.
    3. Meng, Ming & Qu, Danlei, 2022. "Understanding the green energy efficiencies of provinces in China: A Super-SBM and GML analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PA).
    4. Te Bao & Yun Dai & Yanxiang Feng & Shuai Liu & Ruixin Wang, 2023. "Trade liberalisation and trade and capital flows: Evidence from China pilot free trade zones," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(5), pages 1408-1422, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Samuel Marden, 2016. "The agricultural roots of industrial development: ‘forward linkages’ in reform era China," Working Paper Series 09116, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    2. Samuel Marden, 2016. "The agricultural roots of industrial development: ‘forward linkages’ in reform era China," Working Paper Series 9116, Department of Economics, University of Sussex.
    3. Bhatt, Vipul & Liao, Mouhua & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2023. "Government policy and land price dynamics: A quantitative assessment of China’s factor market reforms," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Yin, Yongkun, 2023. "China’s demographic transition: A quantitative analysis," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. John Knight & Sai Ding, 2008. "Why has China Grown so Fast? The Role of Structural Change," Economics Series Working Papers 415, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. Cao, Kang Hua & Birchenall, Javier A., 2013. "Agricultural productivity, structural change, and economic growth in post-reform China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 165-180.
    7. Shuaizhang Feng & Yingyao Hu & Robert Moffitt, 2015. "Long Run Trends in Unemployment and Labor Force Participation in China," NBER Working Papers 21460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Wen Yao & Xiaodong Zhu, 2021. "Structural Change And Aggregate Employment Fluctuations In China," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 62(1), pages 65-100, February.
    9. Binlei Gong, 2020. "New Growth Accounting," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(2), pages 641-661, March.
    10. Prema-chandra Athukorala & Zheng Wei, 2015. "Economic Transition and Labour Market Dynamics in China: An Interpretative Survey of the ‘Turning Point’ Debate," Departmental Working Papers 2015-06, The Australian National University, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics.
    11. Chen, Shiyi & Jefferson, Gary H. & Zhang, Jun, 2011. "Structural change, productivity growth and industrial transformation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 133-150, March.
    12. Fan Duan & Bulent Unel, 2019. "Persistence of cities: Evidence from China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 663-676, May.
    13. Tong, Haizhi & Fulginiti, Lilyan E. & Sesmero, Juan P., 2009. "Chinese Regional Agricultural Productivity: 1994-2005," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51784, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Prema†chandra Athukorala & Zheng Wei, 2018. "Economic Transition And Labour Market Dynamics In China: An Interpretative Survey Of The €˜Turning Point’ Debate," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 420-439, April.
    15. Simon Alder & Lin Shao & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2012. "The Effect of Economic Reform and Industrial Policy in a Panel of Chinese Cities," DEGIT Conference Papers c017_061, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    16. Harris,Colin & Cai,Meina & Murtazashvili,Ilia & Murtazashvili,Jennifer Brick, 2020. "The Origins and Consequences of Property Rights," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108969055, September.
    17. Tian, Xu & Yu, Xiaohua, 2012. "The Enigmas of TFP in China: A meta-analysis," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 396-414.
    18. Vipul Bhatt & Mouhua Liao & Min Qiang Zhao, 2019. "Government Policy and Land Price Dynamics: A Quantitative Assessment of China's Factor Market," Working Papers 2019-07-03, Wang Yanan Institute for Studies in Economics (WISE), Xiamen University.
    19. Qichun He, 2011. "Does FDI Promote Human Capital Accumulation? The Role of Gradual Financial Liberalization," CEMA Working Papers 455, China Economics and Management Academy, Central University of Finance and Economics.
    20. Lu, Yi & Luan, Mengna & Sng, Tuan-Hwee, 2020. "Did the communists contribute to China’s rural growth?," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:26:y:2018:i:2:p:1-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwepacn.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.