Institutions, Convergence, and Human Development – Reflections on Regional Development and the Western Development Strategy

Author: Cai Fang et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: March 17, 2002
Features: China is the world's largest developing country, with a fundamental national condition characterized by a large population, vast territory, and significant regional disparities, making it the country with the widest regional differences in the world. Since reform, China has entered an economic take-off phase, continuously narrowing the development gap with developed countries. However, the disparity in economic growth rates among its regions has widened significantly, becoming a widely discussed issue both domestically and internationally. Understanding the characteristics of China's regional development gap, recognizing the differences in regional economic growth and their sources—the so-called "mystery of regional development disparities"—holds great practical and theoretical significance. In this regard, Cai Fang et al.'s Institutions, Convergence, and Human Development—Thoughts on Regional Development and Western Development Strategy (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 and serving as a highly distinctive monograph in the field of regional development research.
Traditional development theory holds that capital accumulation is key to economic growth. Based on this understanding, many development policies aimed at reducing regional disparities have focused on increasing the capital accumulation levels of impoverished regions. However, most government regional development strategies have failed to successfully narrow regional gaps. This book reflects on past regional policies, revealing deeper causes of development and underdevelopment through theoretical and empirical analysis. It highlights that the long-term poverty trap of impoverished regions, apart from gaps in per capita income, investment levels, and efficiency compared to developed regions, is more significantly driven by disparities in a range of human development conditions. These human development conditions include the endowment of human capital in education and health levels, resource and environmental conditions, the development of product and factor markets, and other institutional factors. The book suggests that the ongoing Western development strategy should focus on improving the human development conditions of central and western regions, eliminating their poverty in economic development capacity.