"China and the World Economy" - Ningbo, University of Nottingham

Last week at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo China, the Globalisation and Economic Policy (GEP) centre launched in China.

The conference covered a variety of topics from some of the leading international economists in China and academics working on China from the UK, Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea and Singapore. Links to the papers can be found below.

I will look in more detail at some of the more interesting papers later this week.

There is a wider debate on the role of UK Universities in China that is the topic for another post another day but the setting up of a branded campus in China puts Nottingham way ahead of other Universities in the UK and the US in terms of global expansion. The question is why others have not followed. Do they perceive the risk to be too great or is it simply that Nottingham have shown greater vision and fleet of foot to take a strong first mover advantage. The jury is still out although I suspect other Universities will be watching developments carefully.

GEP in China[University of Nottingham]

GEP is delighted to announce the establishment of a branch of its Research Centre at the University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China. The launch of this branch of GEP will coincide with a major international conference to be held in Ningbo on 6th and 7th November, 2008.

Programme available here.[PDF]

Press release available here.[PDF]

GEP - the Globalisation and Economic Policy Centre - will open a world-class new facility in China with a conference examining the international impact of the nation’s growing economy. The two-day conference ‘China and the World Economy’ begins on Thursday 6th November and will be held at the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, which is home to the new GEP China. Speakers will include Professor Shujie Yao, Co-ordinator and Leader of GEP’s China and the World Economy programme, who will deliver a lecture on understanding the economic psychology of China’s stock market bubble and crash. He will discuss how the dreams of millions of ordinary Chinese investors have been shattered by the crash, which started before the Credit Crunch in the West and had different causes. Professor Yao will examine the economic psychology that drove the bubble, which began in late 2005. In less than two years, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index rose from just over 1000 to more than 6000. Today the picture looks very different. In the space of ten months to mid-September 2008 the SSE Compose Index fell by more than 70%. Professor Yao says one of the causes of the bubble may have been poor government management of the process of listing giant state-owned companies on the stock exchange. Another was irrational investing by citizens who had little understanding of the markets and the fact they can go down as well as up. “Big interest groups that exploited the boom were the biggest winners; small investors the net losers – fuelling the already serious inequality problem in today’s China,” he said. GEP, which is based at the University of Nottingham, launched its China and the World Economy programme three years ago.

Opening a branch in China will increase opportunities for in-depth study.
Professor Daniel Bernhofen, Director of GEP, said: “The fact that we are now in China, perfectly positioned to further increase our research into one of the most significant factors in the continuing story of globalisation, is a sign not only of China’s growing role in the world economy but of our commitment to studying it as closely as possible.”

Papers available below:-

Yang Yao, Peking University
The Implications of the Chinese Experience for the Developing World

Jiadong Tong, Nankai University
Trade Balance and Government Policy in China

David Greenaway, GEP, University of Nottingham
Has China Displaced Other Asian Countries’ Exports?

Zhihao Yu, Carleton University
Demographic Dynamics and Economic Take-off: the Economic Impact of China's Population-Control Policy

Fuku Kimura, Keio University, Japan (with Ayako Obashi, Keio University)
East Asian Production Networks and the Rise of China: Regional Diversity in Export Performance

Robert Elliott, University of Birmingham
Growth, FDI and Environment - Evidence from Chinese Cities (with Cole and Zhang)

Kui-Wai Li, City University, Hong Kong (with Tung Liu and Lihong Yun)
Decomposition of Economic Growth and Productivity Change in Post-reform China

Innwon Park, Korea University (with Professor Soonchan Park)
Free Trade Agreements versus Customs Unions: An Examination of East Asia

Zhihong Yu, GEP, University of Nottingham (co-authored with Richard Kneller)
Quality Selection, Chinese Exports and Theories of Heterogeneous Firm Trade

Xianguo Yao, Zhejiang University
The Dual Dualism of Labor Markets Segmentation in China: Theory and Evidence

Peter Egger, University of Munich
Mode of Market Participation of Chinese Firms: Theory and Evidence (with Zhihong Yu)

Albert Hu, National University of Singapore
Propensity to Patent, Competition and China's Foreign Patenting Surge

Stephen Morgan, University of Nottingham (with Shujie Yao and Dan Luo)
Impact of the US Credit Crunch and Housing Market Crisis on China

Alessandra Guariglia, GEP, University of Nottingham (with D. Greenaway and Z. Yu)
The more the better? Foreign ownership and corporate performance in China

Jun Zhang, Fudan University
What Can We Learn from China's Economic Transformation?

We are delighted to announce that, as part of the Conference, Professor Shujie Yao will present the inaugural The World Economy Annual China Lecture. This Lecture will be on the topic ' Understanding China's Stock Market Bubble and Crash during 2006-2008: An Economic and Psychological Analysis'.

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