How China Escaped the Poverty Trap (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)

This is a great book - very readable and with some real insights into China's growth. Yuen Yuen Ang's analysis of the room given to experiment while working within a (loosely) defined policy umbrella reminded me of the oft quoted Chinese phrase : Shang mian you zhengce, Xia mian you dui ce – up there you have your policy, down here we have our way of implementing it. Not in terms of defiance, but in terms of pragmatism. I particularly like the term “directed improvisation” which I think captures this well and which for many areas of Chinese growth expresses a licence to play / experiment within the boundaries of set goals. This is not "anything goes" it's more "it doesn't matter whether the cat is black or white as long as the Party can live with it".The role of weak institutions and how they become stronger is a common theme and the author provides a mountain of evidence with some very interesting and specific examples. How that strengthening is influenced by good leadership and by the development of organisational culture is key.Of course, in all of this there is a view of China as a development outlier whose success is too specific to hold lessons for others. Like Yuen Yuen Ang I disagree with that and think there is lots to learn as long as we separate out the generic lessons from the ones with only “Chinese characteristics”.It's well worth the effort : scholarly, readable and with a very clear and well supported argument.