Table of Contents

1. Overview: China's Reform Trajectory Since 1978
2. Agriculture and the Rural Economy
3. Industry and the Rise of the Export Machine
4. Urbanization and Infrastructure
5. Enterprises: State-Owned vs. Private
6. The Fiscal System and Central-Local Relations
7. The Financial System and the Exchange Rate
8. Demographics and the Labor Market
9. The Emerging Consumer Economy
10. The Social Compact: Inequality, Corruption, and the Environment
11. Changing the Growth Model: Can It Be Done?
12. China as Number One: What Does it Mean for the Rest of the World?

About the Author

Arthur R. Kroeber is founding partner of Gavekal Dragonomics, a China-focused economic research consultancy he established in Beijing in 2002 after 15 years as a freelance financial journalist in Asia, and editor of its flagship publication China Economic Quarterly. He is also head of research at the firm's parent company Gavekal, where he advises financial, corporate and government clients on economic and political developments in China.
Kroeber is a senior non-resident fellow of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, adjunct professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, and a member of the National Committee on
US-China relations. He lives in Beijing and New York.

Reviews

"If the notion of a middle way sounds intuitively appealing, Arthur Kroeber's book brings rigour to the debate to show why it is also the most likely outcome. A longtime China analyst now managing an independent research firm, he launches an assault, albeit courteously worded, on conventional wisdom from the two opposing camps. What emerges is a nuanced take on an economy facing serious challenges, ones that do not spell its collapse but could prove intractable
all the same."--The Economist
"Thankfully Arthur Kroeber has [condensed] many years of studying and writing about the Chinese economy into a single-volume portrait accessible to the generalist. Aside from the clear descriptive prose and judicious organisation this book achieves two things. On the one hand it lays out a detailed framework of how China works that will be recognisable to experts, and accessible to newcomers, breaking the whole into a series of digestible parts. On the other
hand it offers a layer of measured assessment aimed at addressing the full range of pressing issues affecting China."--Forbes
"Few have watched the development of the Chinese economy as closely as Arthur Kroeber. [China's Economy] is a wide-ranging and authoritative primer on the history and development of China's unique blend of decentralized economic authoritarianism."--Quartz