Gathering contributions by leading social development scholars, this report offers a comprehensive description of the national development of cultural consumption in China. By comparing the annual growth of cultural consumption, GDP growth, per-capita income growth and savings growth, the authors reveal the disparity between urban and rural areas in terms of cultural consumption, as well as that between provinces. Based on an analysis of the status quo of cultural consumption in China, the...

The truth behind the rise of China and whether or not it will be able to maintain itHow did China transform itself so quickly? In Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of China's Extraordinary Rise, Revised Edition Carl Walter and Fraser Howie go deep inside the Chinese financial machine to illuminate the social and political consequences of the unique business model that propelled China to economic powerhouse status, and question whether this r...

When Deng Xiaoping launched China on the path to economic reform in the late 1970s, he vowed to build “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” More than three decades later, China’s efforts to modernize have yielded something very different from the working people’s paradise Deng envisioned: an incipient kleptocracy, characterized by endemic corruption, soaring income inequality, and growing social tensions. China’s Crony Capitalism traces the origins of China’s present-day troub...

The rise of the renminbi and what it means for forex marketsChinese authorities have ambitious plans to "internationalize" the renminbi, transforming it from a tightly controlled domestic legal tender into a global currency for international trade, held by both private and public sector asset managers. The Offshore Renminbi examines this impending currency revolution, outlining why the emergence of China as a major economic power will likely soon be matche...

From the million-copy-selling author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street, the perfect guide to investing in the next economic giant.In From Wall Street to the Great Wall, Burton G. Malkiel and his coauthors show how average investors can tap into the opportunities this affords without losing their shirts. The authors present firsthand knowledge from their research trips to China on how Chinese firms and industries, as well as multinationals in the U...

In Gaining Currency, leading China scholar Eswar S. Prasad describes how the renminbi (RMB) is taking the world by storm and explains its role in reshaping global finance. This book sets the recent rise of the RMB, China's currency since 1949, against a sweeping historical backdrop. China issued the world's first paper currency in the 7th century. In the 13th century, Kublai Khan issued the first-ever currency to circulate widely despite not being backed by commodities or precious...

Like elsewhere in Europe, the crisis has affected economic developments in the Western Balkans, from Croatia in the north to Albania in the south. The countries in the region face difficulties such as high unemployment, decreased availability of bank credit and reduced trade. Furthermore, the inability of their political institutions to deal immediately with these economic challenges has reinforced the negative effects of the crisis. What does this mean for the Western Balkans’ accession t...

Presents a story of two Chinas – an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China. In the 1980s, rural China gained the upper hand. In the 1990s, urban China triumphed. In the 1990s, the Chinese state reversed many of its rural experiments, with long-lasting damage to the economy and society. A weak financial sector, income disparity, rising illiteracy, productivity slowdowns, and reduced personal income growth are the product of the capitalism with Chinese characteristics...

From ancient “knife money” to the Renminbi—a fascinating history of Chinese currencyChinese Currency and the Global Economy is an all-encapsulating study of the Chinese monetary system from the historical perspective of global economy and finance.From economic infrastructure to the cultural system and from world events to the domestic scene, author Chen Yulu describes the metamorphosis of the Chinese currency and examines what is entailed in the globalization of ...

Labor migration and remittances, which have increasingly become a part of the global landscape, have profound economic and social consequences. Moldova, a small low-income country where an estimated one-third of the economically active population has been working abroad, is an interesting illustration of this trend. Drawing on household survey data, this Special Issues paper explains why Moldovan workers go abroad and how their remittances are used. With this background, it provides insights ...

The 2007-09 global financial crisis was predictable and avoidable but American and British regulators chose not to intervene. They failed to enforce legislation or implement their own policies because of an Anglo-American “regulatory culture” of non-intervention that came to dominate financial regulation worldwide. Hong Kong — the international financial centre of an increasingly prosperous China — defied world opinion and made stability its priority, even where that meant extensive govern...

"This is a very timely book. With the recapitalization and reform of China's banking sector now well under way, the banks are on the brink of a new era of growth and expansion. This work is the definitive reference on the banking sector in China, and is an essential tool for anyone seeking to understand the dynamics of financial intermediation on the Mainland. It sets out the facts, free of the judgment calls that so often cloud the true picture of the health of China's banking system."