China and the World Economy
The rise of China over the last three decades has shaken the world. Researchers and policy makers need to have a thorough understanding of China's role in the world economy in order to benefit from the huge opportunities and to face up to the critical challenges created by China's rapid growth.
The CWE Programme was launched at the end of 2005 in response to growing interest in the rapid integration into the world economy of such a large economy as China. It was envisaged from the outset that the programme would be concerned with both the implications of China's integration into the world economy and the implications for China itself of its opening up to trade and capital flows and the associated changes in product and factor markets.
From the outset, it was intended that there would be selectivity in the projects developed, given the scale of the potential research agenda, limited inherited expertise on China and the significant amount of research already underway elsewhere in Europe and the USA. It was also important that projects built upon existing research strengths and reputation. In both a developed and developing country context, there is a body of earlier research of relevance in China's context eg border trade analysis, industry and firm-level analysis of specialisation and trade, the impacts of FDI on productivity and exporting and labour market adjustments to globalisation pressures. CWE will not therefore develop in isolation of GEP's other programmes.
Given the limited inherited China-specific expertise and need to overcome cultural and linguistic barriers to complete high-quality and relevant research, it was important that research capacity was increased. It was envisaged from the outset that this would be achieved through appointment of Internal and External Fellows and post-doctoral research fellows, with research experience in and on China. It was also expected that PhD students (including from China) would be appointed and that collaborations with other researchers and institutions inside and outside China developed.
Some start-up research activities
- Export displacement effects of China on Asia's exports (David Greenaway, Chris Milner, Neema Mahabir)
- Impact of environmental regulations on the pattern of China's trade and specialisation (Chris Milner, Fangya Xu)
- The role of 'lumpiness' in affecting China’s pattern of trade (Chris Milner, Zhihong Yu, Meng Lu)
- Firm-level analysis of the impact of production subsidies on export activity (Holger Görg)
- Impacts of privatisation and foreign acquisition on Chinese state-owned enterprises (Holger Görg)
- Nature and impact of financial constraints on firm behaviour in China (Alessandra Guariglia)
- Impacts of globalisation on poverty and inequality in China (Lina Song)
- Impact of FDI on China's regional growth (Shujie Yao)
Planned research projects
- Impact of FDI on agglomeration and firm heterogeneity in China (Zhihong Yu, Peter Egger)
- The determinants of firm-level growth in China (Lina Song, Alessandra Guariglia)
- Impact of China on the pattern of specialisation and trade in Asia (David Greenaway, Chris Milner)