Macroecon 中国经济发展与转型（英文版） 知识介绍.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Chinese Modern Economic History Macroeconomic Trends and Cycles Naughton, Chapter 18 Chinese Modern Economic History This chapter focuses on savings, the government fiscal system, inflation, and monetary policy. This is a lot to cover in one small chapter. 18.1 Trends in National Saving Foreigners do not know what to think when told that many Chinese households save 25%, 40%, or 60% of their income. One can have several reactions - many Chinese make too much money; many Chinese cannot find enough things to buy; many Chinese are concerned about risk and necessary future expenditures; the financial system provides for a transfer of wealth from households to businesses. This last two items make the most sense. Chinese Modern Economic History In the planned economy, there was little savings by either households or by business. What saving was done was done by SOE. Household incomes were small, and in cities people received benefits such as housing, health care, education, and pensions as part of their danwei iron rice bowl. See Figure 18.1 Businesses (SOE) sent any excess of revenues over expenses (profits) to the government, so there was no concept of retained earnings used to finance investment. Any investment funds came from the government. There was no tax system. The government used profits from SOE to fund government operations. Banks provided some trade credit, but there was no lending as is now known. Banks were barely necessary. They did not take in much in deposits (savings). They did not make loans. Chinese Modern Economic History What is clear is that since reform began in 1978, Chinese households have been called upon to prepare for future expenses that were uncertain in their impact - sending children to high school, to university, paying for health care (for what unexpected event?), saving for retirement. Households in which earners have a job in the formal economy