Is the Chinese Economy a Miracle or a Bubble?

Since China undertook economic reform and opened its economy to the world in late 1970s, its economic growth was historically unprecedented in terms of both speed and longevity. No other economy in recorded history has grown at as high a rate and for as long a period as China has done. The questions that naturally arise are: was the Chinese economy a miracle? Or was it a mere bubble? Will the Chinese economy begin to stagnate like the Japanese economy did in the 1990s, and perhaps decline? Will it be able to escape the “middle-income trap”? If it is not a miracle, can the Chinese development experience be replicated elsewhere?

This collected volume of Professor Lawrence J. Lau’s papers provides a comprehensive and detailed discussion of the remarkable growth of the Chinese economy over the past decades, by scrutinizing the sources of economic growth, and evaluating the strategies adopted by the Chinese government to promote the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market-based economy by means of “dual-track” approach. It is argued that, while the Chinese economy is unique and exceptional in many ways, its development experience can be explained and attributed.