The Emergence of Free Market Retailing in the People's Republic of China: Promises and Consequences.

The article analyses the debate that exists in regard to the forces behind economic development through looking at the retail industry in China. The author questions whether economic development is stimulated more by market forces or when it is centrally planned. In observing free market trade in developing countries and by comparing China's retail sector with its state-owned sector, the author attempts to predict what will happen to the Chinese economy as the result of the economic decision to develop a free market system.