Despite China's obvious and growing importance on the world stage, it is often and easily misunderstood. Indeed, there are many Chinas, as this comprehensive survey of contemporary China vividly illustrates. Now in a thoroughly revised and updated edition that offers the only sustained geography...

The purpose of this paper is to develop a testable theory, the interaction thesis, capable of explaining why do we observe differences in economic stability and growth rates between various countries; or - the same thing - why less efficient countries do not duplicate economic policies of more...