This book is unique in its depth of perspective. It uses a comparative approach to explain why China’s role in the world economy has changed so dramatically in the last thousand years. It concludes that China is likely to resume its natural role as the world’s largest economy by the year 2015, thus regaining the position it had held until the end of the nineteenth century. The study provides a major reassessment of the scale and scope of China’s resurgence over the past half century, employing quantitative measurement techniques which are standard practice in OECD countries, but which have not hitherto been available for China. Written by the author of many studies on comparative economic history, including two best sellers for the OECD Development Centre, this book is essential reading for all those who seek to understand the role of China in the world economy, in the past, as well as in the present and the future.
Table of contents:
Foreword by the Secretary-General of the OECD Acknowledgements Preface by Javier Santiso Author's Prelude to the Second Edition Summary and Conclusions Chapter 1. Intensive and Extensive Growth in Imperial China Chapter 2. Economic Decline and External Humiliation, 1820-1949 Chapter 3. Dynamics of Development in the New China Chapter 4. Problems and Prospects: The Outlook for China and the World Economy 2003-2030 Appendix A. Performance in Farming, Fishery, Forestry, and Agricultural Sidelines, China 1933-95 Appendix B. Industrial Performance, China, 1913-2003 Appendix C. Growth and Level of Chinese Gross National Product Appendix D. Population and EmploymentAppendix E. Foreign Trade Appendix F. Pople and Places in Pinyin and Wade-Giles Maps Bibliography
