Markets, Migrants and Institutional Change

Abstract

Economic development in the post-Mao era has caught the eye of developing and developed countries alike. For the developing world, China and the other East Asian economies represent much of what they are hoping to emulate in their own development projects. For the developed world, China is no longer considered the ‘sick man of Asia’ (亚洲病夫) and is now an integral part of the global economic system attracting high levels of foreign direct investment and maintaining high levels of economic growth and a healthy balance of trade surplus with the developed world. This development success is particularly striking considering the many setbacks, impediments and false starts in China’s modernisation drive since the 19^th century.