Is the Chinese Economy a Miracle or a Bubble? - by Lawrence J Lau & Lawrence Juen-Yee Lau (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book presents a collection of articles by Lawrence Juen-yee Lau from 1994 to 2018, discussing Chinese economic development over the past decades. Lau evaluates the relative importance of different sources of growth for the Chinese economy and scrutinizes the strategy of reform and development at various stages.

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

I found his reasoning fascinating and his arguments that other countries can replicate the Chinese experience to facilitate their own development sound and well-reasoned. This book will be read and discussed by scholars and practitioners interested in a better understanding of the road to economic development.--Myron Scholes, Stanford University

About the Author

Lawrence J. Lau became Professor of Economics in 1976 and the first Kwoh-Ting Li Professor in Economic Development at Stanford University in 1992. Since 2007, Prof. Lau has been serving as Ralph and Claire Landau Professor of Economics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. From September 2010 to September 2014, he served as Chairman of CIC International (Hong Kong) Co., Limited.