Cross the digital divide

Author: He Lin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-04-01
Features: After China's economy experienced the "soft landing" and deflationary stage, it began to enter a new growth cycle, giving rise to new economic factors. "Leaping Over the New Economy Gap" addresses the fundamental questions in the face of complex and changing conditions such as China's entry into the WTO and the challenges of the knowledge economy. The book poses two essential issues: first, what path should China take for its economic development, and second, whether the accumulated experience from reform and opening-up holds guiding significance for nurturing and developing new economic factors. The mission and practical significance of this book lie in this, as it not only highlights the necessity of transforming traditional growth models but also reminds us how far we still are from the new economy. The continuous growth and development of the new economy are attributed to sustained technological innovation, forming a "creative destruction process" in the Schumpeterian sense, which greatly surpasses traditional economics. Technological innovation primarily relies on widespread "research and development" (R&D) activities in society. Large-scale R&D stems from support for basic education and the growing market demand from the new economy industry for such research and development activities. Therefore, the new economy should not be viewed merely as information technology, the information economy, or the internet economy. Instead, all aspects of the new economy, innovation, R&D, and basic education should be seen as an organic whole, and their intrinsic growth mechanisms and economic characteristics should be comprehensively examined.