Turning point: International money and finance in Chinese IPE

Unlike the depth of international political economy (IPE) research on finance and money in North America and Britain/Europe, or the amount of work that has been done inside China on the IPE of international trade, the IPE of global finance and money is still at a nascent stage inside China. The paper examines the evolution of Chinese IPE research on global finance and money and suggests that research in these issue areas appears to be reaching a turning point. The main empirical finding is that this shift in knowledge production has been induced principally by China's emergence as a financial force and the national developmental concerns this entails, as well as by the onset of the 2008-09 global financial crisis and the rise of the emerging economies' grouping. The growing Chinese scholarship on the IPE of finance and money is adding analytical depth and broadening Chinese IPE, particularly on the impact of financial globalization on developing and emerging economies. While such research will likely contribute to Chinese policymaking in the future, the scholarly test for Chinese IPE is whether and how it will contribute to filling the global knowledge gaps on the determinants of financial and monetary policy, and whether it will give rise to new understandings on global finance and money, especially the causes of international financial crises. Heretofore, much of the literature has been heavily policy-oriented and normative.