China’s pension system is in need of comprehensive reform in that it is fragmented in its coverage and significantly under-funded. Attempts to improve the coverage will likely exacerbate the financial strains. Thus it is urgent to improve the financial sustainability of the system and one...

China is under considerable pressure to reduce its CO2 emissions and has given a public commitment to substantial cuts by 2020. Policy-makers are acutely aware of the possible adverse economic consequences of such cuts and an important part of this issue is the regional dimension – will policy...

The extent of inter-regional disparities is an important policy issue in China and the sources of these disparities have been subject to considerable empirical research. Yet we have relatively little empirical knowledge of the effects on the regional distribution of output of shocks to national...

Inter-regional disparities in China have been an important concern for central-government policy-makers for most of the past 60 years. One of the main policy instruments for redressing the balance between the prosperous coastal region and the poorer inland region has been the allocation of...

Fiscal decentralisation has played a significant role in the development of China’s economy over the past three decades. Yet there has been only limited analysis of the way in which decentralisation might affect variables such as welfare, output and income at the aggregate level and none at...

China has promised to cut CO2 emissions per unit of GDP 40-50% by 2020. It is almost certain that the reduction in emissions will have negative effects on the economy; moreover, the effects are likely to differ across regions, given that there is considerable heterogeneity among Chinese regions....

Regional disparities in output per capita and income in China are large and persistent. They have been the subject of considerable concern to policy-makers at the highest level for decades, yet little is known about the effectiveness of various alternative policies which may be used to combat...

Despite high economic growth over the past 30 years, China’s substantial and persistent regional disparities have been the subject of continuing concern to policy makers, as well as the target of a wide variety of policies. An important issue in the policy debate about whether and how best to...

In China inter-regional per capita output disparities are large and persistent and increasingly a matter for policy concern at the highest levels of government. Interregional spillovers are an important ingredient in the design of regional development policy. Yet little is known about the...