China''s sectoral trade composition, product quality mix, and import content of processing exports have all changed substantially during the past decade. This has rendered trade elasticities estimated using aggregate data highly unstable, with more recent data pointing to significantly higher...

Although theory suggests that the real exchange rate should depreciate after a credible trade liberalization but could appreciate temporarily with a noncredible one, little empirical evidence exists. Unlike existing studies that use either indirect tests or unreliable openness measures, this...

The number of studies attempting to estimate the ""equilibrium"" real value of China''s currency has proliferated in recent years as the country''s presence in world markets has grown. These studies have sought to establish whether or not a significant part of China''s competitive prowess can be...

This paper uses the standard one-sector neoclassical growth model to investigate why China''s consumption has been low and investment high. It finds that the low cost of capital has been quantitatively an important factor. Theory predicts that the price of capital may have been significantly...

This paper constructs a general equilibrium model with monopolistically competitive firms and endogenous markups where government spending consists of both consumption and investment goods. It is shown that when markups are countercyclical, increases in the share of investment goods in aggregate...

The Chinese government has recently focused on the need to increase consumption to rebalance the economy. A widely held view is that despite China''s remarkably high growth, the share of consumption in total expenditure has been low and declining due to high and rising saving rate of Chinese...

While economists continue to debate whether particular economic policies, such as those referred to in Willliamson’s (1993) “Washington Consensus,” can spur growth in developing countries, this paper demonstrates that it is combinations of policies that are more critical for growth. Policy...

China''s rapid overall growth since 1978 masks significant differences in relative economic performance across its provinces. This paper finds that, while per capita income of poor provinces are catching up with those in the rich, the relative income distribution appears to be stratifying into a...

This paper studies the relationship between economic growth and financial development in China during the post-1978 reform period. Recent studies, based on cross-country data, have found a positive association between these two variables. We find that while a positive correlation between growth...

In the spirit of what is known as business cycle accounting, this paper finds that the investment wedge-the gap between household''s rate of intertemporal substitution and the marginal product of capital-is large and quantitatively significant in explaining China''s and India''s growth. Specific...