This book analyses and critically evaluates the development  of two key components of Chinas economy: the network of productive enterprises, and the national innovation system, from the inception of market-oriented reforms to the present day. The approach is a partly novel one, albeit inspired to classical political economy, rooted in the structure and evolution of social relations of production and exchange and of the institutional setting in these two crucial domains. The main findings are twofold: First, the role of planning and public ownership, far from withering,  has being upheld and qualitatively enhanced, especially throughout the most recent  stages of industrial reforms. Second, enterprises are increasingly participating - along with universities and research centers - in a concerted and historically unparalleled effort to dramatically upgrade  Chinas capacity to engage in indigenous innovation. As a result, Chinas National Innovation System has been growing and strengthening at a pace much faster than that of the national economy as a whole. The book also presents a speculative and provisional perspective on the validity, and meaning, of the claim that the countrys socioeconomic system is indeed a form of socialism with Chinese characteristics. It will be on interest to students and scholars researching China, politics, and development economics.

 

Alberto Gabriele has worked for over thirty years as a UN economist in New York, Geneva, and  in dozens of developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He has published several articles  in major scientific journals and collaborated on various edited books. His main research interests are international trade, industrial policies, income and wealth distribution, and the distinctive development trajectories of China, Vietnam, and Cuba. 

Introduction. China as the first example of a new class of social economic formations.-Preface The  economic structure of the PRC: basic facts.- Part.I Capitalist and non-capitalist enterprises.- 1.Non-capitalist market-oriented enterprises.- 2.The evolution of rural sector.- 3.SOE reforms: Grasping the large and letting the small go.- 4.Recent trends in the reform of industrial enterprises.-5.The governance and the performance of  SOE.- 6.Between public and private: The rise of mixed industrial enterprises.- 7.Concluding Remarks The role of public industry in the PRC.- Part . II  Chinas National Innovation System.- 8. Introduction to Part II.- 9. The 15-year Plan for Science and Technology and the partial shift of R&D towards industrial enterprises.- 10. The Made in China 2025 Plan.-11.Patents, technology transfers and other areas of innovation and technology policies.- 12. Is it working?.- 13. Statistical evidence.- 22. Concluding remarks China s NIS has come a long way. Will it be enough?Conclusions.