By Zhang Yansheng, Wan Zhongxin and Zhang Shuguang, Institute for International Economics, November 1998

China was steeped in the concepts and ideology of a planned economy for 30 years until reforms began in 1978. Although the country is now well on its way to becoming a market economy, its trading system remains shackled by its centrally planned past. Measuring the Costs of Protection in China analyzes some of the costs of trade protection and the corresponding benefits of liberalization for 25 highly protected sectors in China.

The book begins with a description of the development of China's trade administration system, sketching the obstacles to and prospects for further liberalization. The authors analyze the structure of Chinese trade protection and present their estimates of its static costs. They then offer an in-depth analysis of the country's trade regime and of the administrative barriers to rationalization and liberalization. The final chapter presents the authors' recommendations for improving China's trade system. They conclude that the short-term costs of trade liberalization for goods examined in the study will be substantial in terms of lost domestic output and lost jobs.

The long-term benefits, however, would provide some $35 billion worth of consumer benefits. Five appendices provide greater technical detail on the modeling and methodology applied in this study, as well as a brief description of some peculiarities of the Chinese trade regime-including copious levels of smuggling and monopolistic market structures. 

Read Full Book Online (Divided PDFs, Downloadable)

Book Contents (PDF):

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction 88.5KB

2. The Chinese Trade-Administration System 401.9KB

3. Costs of Protection in China 583.0KB

4. An Assessment of China's Trade System 308.3KB

5. Policy Choices for China's Trade Liberalization 130.4KB

6. Appendix A-E 1.3MB

References

Index

About the Author:

The study was conducted by a team of Chinese economists at the independent Unirule Institute in Beijing, whose president is the prominent reformer, Mao Yushi. It is part of a series from the Institute for International Economics on the costs of protection in several major countries, including the United States, Japan, and Korea. 

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