New Comparative Economics and China's 'Dual Track' Approach to Economic Development in Transition to the Emerging Global Economy

摘要

This current paper featuring China's 'Dual Track' approach to transition economic development is the outcome of a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant to conduct a workshop on New Comparative Economics. The workshop was hosted by the School of Public Administration at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, May 5 to June 15 2005. Co-authors were all participants in that workshop. This paper opens with Section 1, "New Comparative Economics - a Critique." It is a brief review of the Institutional Possibilities Choice (IPF) framework presented in the World Bank policy working paper No. 3054 "New Comparative Economics," by Djankov, et al. Section 2, "Advancing the IPF framework," examines the practical process of implementing intuitional choices, and building additional dimensions to the IPF framework. Section 3, "Riding the Tiger - Case Studies for Developing Flexibility for the IPF Framework," presents two comparative economic transition analysis case studies of transition economy efforts. The first case study, "Ukraine Case Study - A Difficult Dismount?" examines that nation's efforts to recover and reform from its sudden nationhood after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The second case study, "China's Dual Track approach to economic transition," examines an innovative application of the framework presented in the World Bank policy working paper. The paper's conclusion includes the notion that each nation can learn from each other and that the IPF framework can inform all nations because they are all making the transition to the global economy. Might the framework be applied to that larger community as well?