China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® Paperback – 24 Sept. 2020

This book seems the best modern survey of the Chinese economy. I was interested in whether China is still a planned economy (as Michael Roberts has argued: "Xi takes full control of China’s future") or whether it has reverted to capitalism. I also wanted to get a sense of where the modernisation campaign has got to, and the prospects for coming political change.Kroeber's book is useful for all these questions. It's incredibly well-informed; about as well-written as any book on Chinese political economy could be; and compelling and astute in its observations. As far as I can gather, despite the remarkable growth in the capitalist sector in recent decades (the powerhouse of the economy), the 'dominant heights' of the economy are still politically controlled by the Communist Party. This includes both the SOEs and some of the larger capitalist companies, where the ownership structure is opaque.Kroeber argues that China has reached the end of its massive extensional period of growth and is now pivoting to intensive growth, relying on worker upskilling, an enhanced service sector, a further increase in the market sector at the expense of the deadbeat SOEs and Chinese leadership in technological innovation. This process is hard to reconcile with Xi's increasingly authoritarian policies (which are themselves driven by the need to break the power of defenders of 'the old ways'). It seems that another kind of pivot will be needed in the early 2020s if growth on the new course is to be sustained.Kroeber emphasises that China is still, in terms of GDP per head, a poor country. It will take many decades to catch up with the G7 advanced capitalist countries. This is worth remembering when encountering yet another scaremongering article about the imminent Chinese challenge to American global hegemony.

If you want one book to help you understand China as am economic, political and social entity this as good as it gets. Balanced, through and comprehensive it reads brilliantly. You will rarely encounter such an informative and engaging book. What is particularly interesting is how the author is able to neatly show how the Chinese since the demise of Mao have managed to bring their country from a backward agrarian society where poverty and lack of enterprise and drive were the norm, to being a country where anything remains possible. Political reform Western style may not be on the agenda but wealth creation alongside increased social inclusion definitely are. Who, asks the author can realistically at least in the short term this trade- off between increased prosperity and political pluralism?Topics include: land reform, urbanisation, trade, environmental issues, demographic issues and much else besides. Think you know China? –think again! Read this and find out for sure.Recommended.

Heavy going in places, but a good read. Explains well why China’s double digit growth is slowing down and why in may not be an issue in the long run.

As a scholar of China, I can state categorically that this is the most outstanding book on China's economy thus far. It is extremely objective and backed up with copious amounts of data. The author has been working in China for decades, and has assembled an enviable amount of statistical information. In addition he has observed China for a long time, enabling him to form a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses in the economy.This is not really an easy read, but is chock-full of very valuable information and concise, clear summaries of particular issues in short sections, so these can be picked out one by one as the reader requires. This makes it an excellent resource, and one which I am intending to refer to frequently in class.

A very informative and readable book. If you have any interest in China which given the size of the country and its economy we all should be, this is a good place to start. What China has achieved in recent times is staggering and impacts almost every person on earth. The book describes in good detail how China has lifted vast numbers of people out of poverty, built a massive manufacturing base and built infrastructure on a grand scale. A complete contrast to the so called developed economies where a few massive financial companies are running rings round our politicians, are using the general population to make themselves very rich but not doing anything to promote long term beneficial growth.

I am still pleasantly surprised that I found this book and choose this one after long research to find the one book that answers all questions that anyone has on where China stood in the 70s, it's unprecedented boom in the last 3 decades, it's root causes, what is the political structure in China, how is it linked with the economy etc etc. This book delivers on all fronts and the best part is that while being a not-so-difficult read, it is extremely organized and summarises each chapter and is easy to go back to of needed. I took some notes, I highly recommend that you do as well especially if you want to retain the information of which there is a lot.

For anyone looking to understand China's economy this is a great place to start. The author is extremely well informed and avoids the usual China taking over or China doomed hyperbole.

The unfortunate part about this book is that it was published some 4 years ago, and for me the most interesting subject is the 'march' of Xi Jinping over these past few years.That said, this book is a mine of information whether with its sensible comments about pollution in a developing nation, or the scary fact that the country's labour force runs into hundreds of millions.I guess that one day China, both in terms of its own quality and sheer volumes will outstrip everyone else by whatever means you care to measure.A very interesting and informative read, even though I got lost amongst all the statistics and other information.