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What's So Special about China's Exports?
Author(s) -
Rodrik Dani
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
china and world economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.815
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1749-124X
pISSN - 1671-2234
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-124x.2006.00038.x
Subject(s) - china , nature versus nurture , economics , government (linguistics) , international economics , international trade , business , political science , law , linguistics , philosophy , genetics , biology
Much more than comparative advantage and free markets have been at play in shaping China's export success. Government policies have helped nurture domestic capabilities in consumer electronics and other advanced areas that would most likely not have developed in their absence. As a result, China has ended up with an export basket that is significantly more sophisticated than what would be normally expected for a country at its income level. This has been an important determinant of China's rapid growth. What matters for China's future growth is not the volume of exports, but whether China will continue to latch on to higher‐income products over time. (Edited by Xiaoming Feng)