China's Development Challenges: Economic Vulnerability and Public Sector Reform - Rilegato

Schiere, Richard

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0415478650 ISBN 13: 9780415478656

Casa editrice: Routledge, 2009

Riassunto

This book argues that a major potential source of social tension in transition and developing countries is not poverty as such, but vulnerability: that is, the risk of becoming poor. It demonstrates how in China many of the recent reforms to the public sector, such as decentralisation from central to local government, especially fiscal decentralisation; the reduction in public services provided by the state; the increasing practice of local government of charging fees for basic services which were previously free; de-collectivisation of the rural commune system and market sector experimentation in Economic Processing Zones have made many households extremely vulnerable to poverty. Having to find funds to pay for health and education leaves the households exposed should macro-economic fluctuations related to factors – such as trade, resource imports, and financial volatility – have an adverse impact on the Chinese economy overall. The book argues that to become less vulnerable to macroeconomic shocks China would need to shift from an export-oriented development strategy to a domestic consumer-demand driven development strategy, and this would need to be supported by public sector reforms: strengthening of public service provisions in the health and the education sectors as well as expanding social security programs. The book discusses these problems, relates them to the economic literature and outlines the likely consequences.

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Informazioni sull?autore

Richard Schiere works for the African Development Bank Group.  He designed and implemented the China-Africa research programme.  He started his career at the United Nations in Cambodia and then in their headquarters in New York. He has a PhD in Development Economics from CERDI-CNRS, University of Auvergne, France.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Routledge
• Data di pubblicazione: 2009
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0415478650
• ISBN 13: 9780415478656
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero edizione: 1
• Numero di pagine: 176
• Contatto del produttore: Taylor and Francis, GPSR Taylor and Francis; gpsr@taylorandfrancis.com; ; Taylor & Francis Verlag GmbH, Kaufingerstraße 24; München; 80331; Germania