Demystifying the Chinese Economy by Professor Justin Lin, LSE

This lecture was very informative and analytical of the economic success China has experienced and will continue to do so. China, as most people are now aware, has become the largest exporter in the world and could soon have a larger economy than the USA, who has had the ‘title’ for more than 50 years. Justin Lin produced an extensive argument outlining the possible reasons for China’s success and the roots of dynamic economic growth.

Firstly, Lin highlighted the significant achievements China has made in their rise to success. They have brought millions of people out of poverty and increased their living standard substantially. However, the most surprising of all was the fact that the national income for China was a third of that of Africa in 1979, yet we know it is now apparent that China has one of the greatest economies in the world.

The extent of China’s growth is extraordinary, for example they have experienced a 9% growth rate for the past 32 years. Many people are now sceptical about the future of China’s growth and claim that soon China will stop growing or could even collapse. This was surprising for many people because many other East Asian economies had experienced similar growth but never for this time period.

Furthermore, the idea of economic growth is a fairly modern one. This was so, as prior to the 18^th century, economic growth was unheard of, yet over the course of the last two centuries, many countries around the world experience growth, which seemed to double once in a while. However, it is clearly obvious that economic growth helps to move countries from economic downturn to become prosperous nations.

Justin Lin also made mention of the fact that many people make incorrect predictions about the future of countries’ economies, as they use the wrong data or resources. Lin believes to correctly measure the potential of an economies’ growth, the following has to be considered. The gap that country has with high-income countries in terms of technology or GDP. Next using examples of history, it is clear that one can see the time it takes for a developing country to become an economic superpower, this is evidently true with Japan during the 1950’s.

To conclude, the lecture was informative and analysed the economic power and history of China. The information presented by Professor Justin Lin, answered and demystified many questions regarding the economy of China.