Discussion Paper
No. 2017-24 | May 09, 2017
Chongqiang Ren, Guofang Zhai, Shutian Zhou, Shasha Li and Wei Chen
Adaptation assessment and analysis of economic growth since the market reform in China
(Published in The Sustainable Development Goals—Assessing interlinkages, trade-offs and synergies for policy design)

Abstract

China has experienced extraordinary institutional and socio-economic changes after 1978, and its deepening reform to market-oriented economy since 1990s was also recognized as one the most significant factors to drive China’s rise in the contemporary world. Although many aspects of China’s market reform have been extensively analysed in the literature, specific attention on the adaptation of economic growth to this reform has been relatively ignored. To fill this gap, this research adopts the extenics assessment method to assess this adaptation and applies the membership function coordination degree model to analyse the sustainability of such adaptation. In conclusion, China has demonstrated a significantly enhanced adaptation capacity at the expense of coordination, which requires to be further emphasised in its economic growth adaptation strategies.

JEL Classification:

A11, O11, P21, P41

Cite As

Chongqiang Ren, Guofang Zhai, Shutian Zhou, Shasha Li, and Wei Chen (2017). Adaptation assessment and analysis of economic growth since the market reform in China. Economics Discussion Papers, No 2017-24, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. http://www.economics-ejournal.org/economics/discussionpapers/2017-24


Comments and Questions



Anonymous - Referee report 1
May 09, 2017 - 12:23
This article analyzes China’s economic transformation process by using the “extenics assessment method”. In my view, the article addresses a very important topic and is written in a nice way. The specific economic mechanism under examination, the relation to the Sustainable Development Goals and the resulting policy implications, however, have not become clear enough to me. The methodology appears to be unusual but very promising for the field of economics. In order to make it more accessible and convincing for the readership, I suggest to provide more economic intuition for the methodological steps and to clarify key definitions, such as “adaptation capacity”, “economic adaptation”, “coordination” (what shall be coordinated across which agents?), “sustainable economic growth”, “entropy method”, “system” and other types of “capacity”, in terms of their economic meaning early in the article (preferably in the Introduction). As far as possible based on this kind of analysis, the policy recommendations phrased out in the Conclusion should be more specific.

Chongqiang Ren, Guofang Zhai, Shutian Zhou, Shasha Li, and Wei Chen - Response to referee report 1
May 10, 2017 - 15:36
see attached file

Anonymous - Referee report 2
May 19, 2017 - 12:45
see attached file

Chongqiang Ren, Guofang Zhai, Shutian Zhou, Shasha Li, and Wei Chen - Response to referee 2
July 10, 2017 - 09:49
see attached file