Presents a story of two Chinas - an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China. In the 1980s, rural China gained the upper hand. In the 1990s, urban China triumphed. In the 1990s, the Chinese state reversed many of its rural experiments, with long-lasting damage to the economy and society. A weak financial sector, income disparity, rising illiteracy, productivity slowdowns, and reduced personal income growth are the product of the capitalism with Chinese characteristics of the 1990s and beyond. While GDP grew quickly in both decades, the welfare implications of growth differed substantially. The book uses the emerging Indian miracle to debunk the widespread notion that democracy is automatically anti-growth. As the country marked its 30th anniversary of reforms in 2008, China faces some of its toughest economic challenges and substantial vulnerabilities that require fundamental institutional reforms.

Explains why China grew differently in the 1980s than in the 1990s and beyond, and what consequences this has today.

About the Author
Yasheng Huang teaches international management at Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His previous appointments include serving as assistant professor at the University of Michigan, associate professor at Harvard Business School, and consultant to the World Bank. In addition to journal articles, Professor Huang has published Inflation and Investment Controls in China (Cambridge University Press, 1996), FDI in China (1998), and Selling China (Cambridge University Press, 2003). Selling China examined the institutional drivers of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China and was profiled in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Economist, Businessworld, Le Monde, Economic Times, and Liangwang (Outlook in China). His research on FDI was cited in a number of major government reports on FDI policies and regulations. In collaborative projects with other scholars, Professor Huang is conducting research on engineering education and human capital formation in China and India and on entrepreneurship. Professor Huang is the recipient of the Social Science-MacArthur Foundation Fellowship and the National Fellowship.

Reviews
'The development of the Chinese private sector is a key to the future shape and performance of the Chinese economy. At present, the subject is widely misunderstood. This book does more than any other to clarify the issues and point the way forward.' Christopher Howe, School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield
'... important book ... If one wants to understand the policy origins of China's growing divide between rich and poor, urban and rural, one need look no further than this book.' William Kirby, Harvard University
'Sure to generate a lively debate, Professor Huang's study provides a provocative and well-researched challenge to much current thinking on China's economic development.' Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale Law School
'... Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics is both immensely informative and enormously provocative.' Charles Wolf, Jr, Pardee RAND Graduate School
'... the scale of the research is impressive, and goes beyond most western commentators other than those with high-level Chinese language skills and access to the primary sources. ... the book is overall an important reminder that the story of China's growth rewards detailed research and is not simply the tale of a gradual deepening of market-led economic reform. ... Huang's tale of the first two decades of China's economic reform is indeed worth bearing in mind when watching the latest developments.' The Business Economist
'... profoundly informative book ...' The Spokesman
'This is among the most important books to appear on contemporary China this decade. Motivated by a socially conscious economic liberalism and guided by a firmly positivist epistemology, Yasheng Huang challenges - and defeats - some of the most sacred myths surrounding the Chinese political economy as reinforced by scholars and widely accepted by the general public. The book is essential reading for any political scientist specializing in China, international relations, comparative economic development, or comparative political change.' Perspectives on Politics
'[Marshals] an impressive array of survey and documentary evidence ... a must-read for China specialists.' The Journal of Asian Studies



Book Information
ISBN 9780521898102
Author Yasheng Huang
Format Hardback
Page Count 366
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 630g
Dimensions(mm) 238mm * 160mm * 25mm