This study shows that China's post-1949 state-led industrialization has closely followed an underlying path that began in the late nineteenth century. It was initiated by pressing national defence needs and has since been motivated by the same and strong incentives for a faster catch-up with the...

We see industrialization in China the last 150 years as an ongoing process through which firms acquired and deepened manufacturing capabilities. Two factors have been consistently important to this process: openness to the international economy and domestic market liberalization. Openness and...

African countries have sought to replicate the success of East Asia by implementing special economic zones. Despite decades of international experience, there remains no blueprint for successful special economic zone policies, and the majority of special economic zones fall well below...

Existing explanations of China's dramatic economic growth since 1978 have neglected a key piece of the China Puzzle, that is, China since 1978 has been a typical “East Asian Developmental State (EADS)” with a long socialist legacy that regularly deploys industrial and science & technology...

China is undergoing its long-awaited industrial revolution. There is no shortage of commentary and opinion on this dramatic period, but few have attempted to provide a coherent, in-depth, politicaleconomic framework that explains the fundamental mechanisms behind China’s rapid...

The rise of China is no doubt the most important event in world economic history since the Industrial Revolution. The institutional theory of development based on a dichotomy of extractive vs. inclusive political institutions cannot explain China's rise. This article argues that only a radical...

In Q1, the Business Sentiment Index stood at 51, indicating an expansion, albeit small, for the first time in four years. This expansion, mainly driven by state-owned and foreign firms, has been largely due to the optimistic expectations of future operating conditions. Private firms – the vast...

In Q1, the Business Sentiment Index stood at 51, indicating an expansion, albeit small, for the first time in four years. This expansion, mainly driven by state-owned and foreign firms, has been largely due to the optimistic expectations of future operating conditions. Private firms – the vast...