Global Economics Monthly: Reading China's Reforms One Year On

Volume III, Issue 11, November 2014

One year ago, China’s leaders announced a sweeping economic reform package aimed at rebalancing growth in the world’s second-largest economy. Estimates suggest that, if implemented, these reforms could propel another doubling in the size of the Chinese economy over the next decade. Failure to follow through, however, could see annual GDP growth rates fall below 1 percent by 2020. As discussed in an earlier Simon Chair report, big questions remain about how Beijing will implement the proposed reforms. The first year of the process has seen Chinese leadership attempting to aggressively reshape an unwieldy economic policymaking apparatus to suit new needs. The results give cause for optimism, but not complacency: Beijing’s path toward making “meaningful progress” on reform by 2020 remains littered with obstacles, and the risks of the current strategy are becoming apparent...

Amy Jean Studdart and David A. Parker