The Emergence of China in the Global Economy
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Napoleon admonished the world to beware an awakened China. 200 years later, Lester Thurow traces the astonishing rise of this economic giant. In contrast to Russia, says Thurow, China solved the problem of moving from communism to capitalism in less than two decades. Starting in 1978, Chinese leaders ended communes and gave hectares of land to industrious peasants. Leaders also tested private enterprise in a succession of cities. By the mid 1990s, “the time had come to play the international game,” says Thurow. China sought technology and foreign investment. But “how do you sell a country”? According to Thurow, China decided, “We’re the cheapest place to make everything.” Foreign firms flooded in, selling equipment to China, or making products there and selling them back to the developed world. But now there are problems: China has no regulations for maintaining intellectual property rights, so Chinese companies pirate Western technology and products with impunity, and undersell the foreign firms that have invested in them. Also, Thurow believes tales of China’s phenomenal growth are often just that – fictions sold by bureaucrats to rate a promotion. “China is a great success but it’s not growing at 9 to 10% a year.” Finally, divisions between prosperous cities and stagnant rural areas threaten long-term stability in the People’s Republic.
 Write a Review of The Emergence of China in the Global Economy
 
Here Comes China, August 10, 2006
Reviewer: learnoutloud
from Los Angeles, California
This streaming audio and video lecture from MIT professor Lester Thurow analyzes the economic awakening of China. This macro analysis features a lot of economic concepts, but is still fairly accessible for those of us who've never taken an economics course. He addresses key issues that arise with China as a player in the global economy such as the gap between what China buys and what it produces, the lack of intellectual property laws of the Chinese government, and the inability to get accurate statistics from a government which demands certain kinds of numbers, even if they are exaggerated.
- Published:
2002
- LearnOutLoud.com Product ID:
T015556
Politics
Global Politics
Business
Economics
Business
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