The article reviews the book "China's Growing Role in World Trade," by Robert C. Feenstra and Shang-Jin Wei.

China’s Growing Role in World Trade

Today's world is undergoing a series of significant changes owing to advent of new technologies resulting in a new set of challenges and risks. Innovations and discoveries have spurred disruptions changing the line of events in the modern world. The ones who survive this global transformation are the ones who adapt to the change and respond at the earliest. Strategic decisions pertaining to embracing the right emerging technology is imperative for business development. The need of the hour is to reset our intuition about the way we work and the way we perceive the world to work for sustainable growth in the long run. Times have drastically changed making it even more evident to evolve our decisionmaking process. Predictions for the future must be based on new lines of management intuition and careful estimations rather than on experience alone.

No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends

Economic Catch‐up and Technological Leapfrogging: The Path to Development and Macroeconomic Stability in Korea by Keun Lee, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2016, Pp. 371 + xiv. ISBN: 978 1785 36792 2

The huge leap forward made by the Chinese economy over the past four decades as a result of market reforms and openness to the world is awe-inspiring for some and anxiety-inducing for others. Questions arise as to whether the foundations of Chinese economic success are sustainable and whether economic growth will be followed by political expansion. China makes great use of globalization and is therefore interested in its continuation. At the same time, it wants to give globalization new features, specific Chinese characteristics. This is met with the reluctance of the current global hegemon, the United States, even more so as fears arise that China may promote abroad its original political and economic system—Chinism. However, the world is still big enough to accommodate all of our systems. Potentially, not necessarily. What we need to make it happen is a proper policy, which, in the future, must also involve its better coordination at a supranational level.

Chinism and the Future of the World

The huge leap made by the Chinese economy over the past four decades as a result of market reforms and openness to the world is causing fear in some and anxiety in others. Questions arise as to whether China’s economic success is solid and whether economic growth will be followed by political expansion. China makes extensive use of globalization and is therefore interested in continuing it. At the same time, China wants to give it new features and specific Chinese characteristics. This is met with reluctance by the current global hegemon, the United States, all the more so as there are fears that China may promote its original political and economic system, "cynicism", abroad. However, the world is still big enough to accommodate us all. Potentially, not necessarily. For this to happen, we need the right policies, which in the future must also include better coordination at the supranational level.

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The great Chinese transformation: cynicism and the future of the world (article two)

China considers innovation be one of the key drivers of its future growth and convergence with more developed countries. It spends more than 2.2 percent of GDP on R&D, above the average for the European Union, is a global leader in domestic patents, and has developed groundbreaking advances in key sectors such as high-speed trains, e-commerce and mobile payments. However, the quality of patents has been slower to improve, Chinese firms remain dependent on foreign suppliers in a number of core high-tech components, and resources do not flow easily to more productive firms resulting in large productivity gaps between market leaders and remaining enterprises. In order to restart its productivity engine and support continued technological catch- up, China must revise its approach to innovation policy. This paper takes stock of China’s progress in building a modern national innovation (NIS) system, reviews international good practice in promoting innovation and shares policy recommendations to help China sustain its drive to become one of the global innovation champions.

Denis Medvedev

Papers

Promoting Innovation in China : Lessons from International Good Practice