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This paper documents important changes in the Chinese macroeconomic environment over the last three decades. The volatility of Chinese aggregate economic activities has fallen dramatically by nearly 60 per cent during its reform period, a phenomenon that coincides with the ' Great Moderation' that occurred in most industrialized economies. We employ a provincial panel-data method to investigate the driving forces of the increasing macroeconomic stability in China. We examine the empirical relationship between output volatility and various economic, policy, institutional, and demographic factors. Our results suggest that the acceleration of reform toward the market economy, which began around 1994, generally leads to a widespread output volatility reduction across Chinese provinces. Both state-owned enterprise reform and human capital accumulation are important determinants of output volatility since the mid-1990s; they play an important role in explaining the provincial differences on volatility reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a firm-level database from 1999 to 2008, this paper sheds new light on the industrial dynamics of China's clothing industry, highlighting the multi-scalar process of spatial restructuring primarily driven by differences in the rate of job creation, especially through start-up firms. At the inter-provincial level, 2004 represents a turning point where the industry ceased to be concentrated in coastal areas and began to relocate inland, especially to central provinces. At the intra-provincial level, cities in coastal provinces remained the most attractive locations for start-up companies even after 2004. The results suggest that the regionally decentralised authoritarian regime, intertwined with market forces shaping the multi-scalar process of spatial restructuring, is pivotal to understanding the changing geography of China's apparel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns the financial stability during the crisis. It introduces the experience of Chinese commercial banks. The Chinese commercial banks emphasise social responsibilities, which contributed to improve the stability of the Chinese financial system, while the increased financial stability brought tremendous positive effects to the development of economy, society and also the commercial banks themselves. We argue that in China, both the government and the financial authority enhance the commercial banks' social responsibility. There are sufficient incentives for the staff of commercial banks to increase the achievements of enhancing the social responsibilities under effective formal institutions. We further argue that, although the legal foundations of China and the EU are different, it is possible for the EU Member States to learn from China to increase the financial stability by enhancing the commercial banks' social responsibilities. We find that because the EU has much more developed financial markets, it is possible for the EU to create effective institutions and legal framework to achieve that goal through the market mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's economic reforms, which began in 1978, resulted in remarkable income growth, and urban Chinese consumers have responded by dramatically increasing their consumption of meat, other livestock products and fruits and by decreasing consumption of grain-based foods. Economic prosperity, a growing openness to international markets, and domestic policy reforms have changed the food marketing environment for Chinese consumers and may have contributed to shifts in consumer food demand. The objective of this paper is to uncover evidence of structural change in food consumption among urban residents in China. Both parametric and nonparametric methods are used to test for structural change in aggregate household data from 1981 to 2004. The tests provided a reasonably clear picture of changing food consumption over the study period. En Chine, les réformes économiques amorcées en 1978 ont entraîné une croissance remarquable du revenu à laquelle les consommateurs urbains chinois ont réagi en augmentant considérablement leur consommation de viande, d'autres produits d'élevage et de fruits et en diminuant leur consommation de produits alimentaires à base de céréales. La prospéritééconomique, une ouverture croissante sur les marchés internationaux et les réformes de la politique intérieure ont modifié l'environnement commercial des produits alimentaires des consommateurs chinois et peuvent avoir contribuéà modifier la demande des consommateurs pour des produits alimentaires. Le présent article visait à recueillir des preuves de changement structurel dans la consommation alimentaire des citadins chinois. Nous avons utilisé des méthodes paramétriques et non paramétriques pour tester les changements structurels à partir de données agrégées sur les foyers de 1981 à 2004. Les tests ont brossé un tableau assez clair de l'évolution de la consommation alimentaire au cours de la période à l'étude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalation of agricultural prices starting from the end of 2003 raised concern about a new round of inflation in China. This paper assesses the impacts of China's 2003 agricultural output decline on agricultural prices and inflation using a general equilibrium model calibrated to actual data. The results indicate that the 5% decline in agricultural output can only explain 50% of observed changes in agricultural prices, 40% of observed changes in the consumer price index, and 20% of observed changes in the commodity price index. This suggests that China's 2003 agricultural output decline was not sufficient alone to produce the observed agricultural price increases and inflationary pressure in 2004. This position is counter to the conventional view that agricultural prices led to the 2004 inflation. L'escalade des prix agricoles qui a commencé vers la fin de 2003 a suscité des inquiétudes au sujet d'une nouvelle poussée inflationniste en Chine. Le présent article évalue l'impact de la diminution du rendement agricole de la Chine en 2003 sur les prix agricoles et l'inflation, à l'aide d'un modèle d'équilibre général calibréà partir de données réelles. D'après les résultats, la diminution de 5% du rendement agricole ne peut expliquer que 50% des changements observés dans les prix agricoles, que 40% des changements observés dans l'indice des prix à la consommation et que 20% des changements observés dans l'indice des prix des produits de base. Ces résultats autorisent à penser que la diminution du rendement agricole n'a pu à elle seule susciter la hausse observée des prix agricoles et la pression inflationniste en 2004. Cette position est contraire à l'explication classique selon laquelle les prix agricoles ont contribuéà l'inflation observée en 2004 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An innovation-diffusion model was developed with agent-based modelling ( ABM); the model is used to study technical innovation and its diffusion process in China. The results are as follows: only a small fraction of firms conduct independent product-innovation, and most firms prefer imitation and/or purchases; most of the innovative firms are located in the East; approximately three or four technology generation products can exist in the market simultaneously; preferential policies can speed the process of innovation diffusion and improve economies of less developed areas, especially in Middle China; lastly, preferential policies can also improve the labour attractiveness of the Middle, West and Northeast and reduce emigration to the East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has promised large cuts in CO2 emissions by 2020, which is likely to have differential effects across regions. We know little about the regional effects of pollution reduction. We make a contribution to filling this gap using a small theoretical model with two regions, features of the Chinese economy and the right to emit CO2 as a factor of production. We find regionally differentiated effects on income, welfare and output and explore government policies designed to reduce these effects. The effects of fiscal policies depend crucially on whether one or both regions respond and on whether output or welfare is targeted. Boosts to productive capacity do better in terms of output but not welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical research on the determinants of regional economic development typically neglects the influence of culture. This study fills that gap by attempting to establish a causal linkage between culture and economic development in the Chinese context. Our empirical analyses are based on a comprehensive economic statistics of China's provinces and prefectures during 1978 to 2008. We use Protestantism as a proxy for culture because Protestant ethic has been linked to the spirit of capitalism and commercial culture in Weber's famous work. To isolate the exogenous variation in culture measure, historical Protestant dissemination is employed as instruments. The estimation results suggest that Christian commercial culture has a significantly positive impact on economic performance - per capita GDP after other important influences (i.e., capital, population, human resources, institutional quality, trade, infrastructure, geography, etc.) are controlled for. We also find heterogeneous effects of culture on economic development in different regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]