Systems, Convergence, and Human Development: Regional Development and the Western Development Strategy

Author: Cai Fang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: China is the world's largest developing country. Its fundamental national conditions are a large population, vast territory, and significant regional disparities, making it the country with the widest regional differences in the world. Since the reform, China has entered the stage of economic take-off, continuously narrowing the development gap with developed countries. However, the disparities in economic growth rates among its regions have been substantial, and the widening economic gap has become a widely issue both domestically and internationally. Understanding the characteristics of China's regional development disparities, recognizing the differences in regional economic growth and their sources, and solving the mystery of regional development gaps are of great theoretical and practical significance. In this regard, Cai Fang and others' Institutions, Convergence, and Human Development—Regional Development and Western Development Strategy Thinking (Renmin University of China Press, 2002) offers a valuable, in-depth, and systematic exploration, providing crucial new development ideas and policy recommendations for Western development, making it a highly distinctive monograph in the field of regional development research.
Traditional development theory holds that capital accumulation is the key to economic growth. Based on this understanding, many development policies aimed at narrowing regional disparities have focused on increasing the capital accumulation levels of impoverished regions. However, most government regional development strategies have failed to successfully reduce regional disparities. This book reflects on past regional policies and, through theoretical and empirical analysis, reveals the deeper causes of developed and underdeveloped regions—poverty-stricken regions have long been trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty, not only due to gaps in per capita income, investment levels, and efficiency compared to developed regions but also due to more significant disparities in a series of human development conditions. These human development conditions include the endowment of human capital reflected in education and health levels, resource and environmental conditions, the development level of product and production factor markets, and other institutional factors. The book suggests that the ongoing Western development strategy should focus on improving the human development conditions in central and western regions, eliminating their poverty in economic development capabilities.