Includes bibliographical references and index.

Overview: China's political economy -- Agriculture, land, and the rural economy -- Industry and the rise of the export economy -- Urbanization and infrastructure -- The enterprise system -- The fiscal system and central-local government relations -- The financial system -- Energy and the environment -- Demographics and the labor market -- The emerging consumer economy -- The social compact: inequality and corruption -- Changing the growth model -- Conclusion: China and the world.

In the 1980s China was an impoverished backwater, struggling to escape the political turmoil and economic mismanagement of the Mao era. Today it is the world's second biggest economy, the largest manufacturing and trading nation, the consumer of half the world's steel and coal, the biggest source of international tourists, and one of the most influential investors in developing countries from southeast Asia to Africa to Latin America. Kroeber helps you navigate the complexities of a capitalist economy governed by an authoritarian Communist Party that shows no sign of loosening its grip.

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