Summer School | International Think Tank Session
A Brief News Release
on the Session of the International Think-Tank of INSE
On July 11, 2018, the Fifth New Structural Economics International Summer School held an international think-tank session in Peking University. Four researchers gave presentation during the session. The topics covered in this session includes the application of New Structural Economics to development projects at the country level, China’s engagement in South-South cooperation, China-Africa cooperation on production capacity, and China’s early experience on cluster development and its lesson to Africa.
Jiajun Xu, Executive Deputy Dean, Assistant Professor, Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University
Professor Jiajun Xu discussed the application of New Structural Economics to international development in terms of both research and policy practice. She pointed out that the New Structural Economics has a rigorous theoretical foundation, an action-oriented policy approach, and hoped that New Structural Economics will help developing countries to understand China’s experience and achieve structural transformation.
Speaker：Yan Wang
Yan Wang, Senior visiting fellow, Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University
Dr. Yan Wang first introduced China’s approach in South-South Cooperation which combines trade, aid and investment. Then she explained how China utilizes patient equity capital to finance infrastructure and private sector in development countries, and pointed out the future prospects, risks and challenges of development finance. At last, she emphasized that the common criticism of China burdening debt on developing countries is inappropriate as there is a difference between borrowing for investment and borrowing for consumption. The key issue is to evaluate debt sustainability for developing countries from a dynamic perspective of economic growth.
Zuoxiang Zhao, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University
Dr. Zuoxiang Zhao presented his co-authored paper together with Ms. Xinyue Wu, the Research Assistant Analyst at INSE, which emphasized the importance of China-Africa industrial capacity cooperation in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative. After analyzing the comparative advantages of both parties, he found that the China-Africa cooperation has great potential for promoting the industries development, industrial structural transformation and industrial upgrading. China can help African countries gain new vitality in manufacturing development and technology introduction through labor-intensive industry transfer. At the same time, China's investment in industrial zones and infrastructure can help African countries overcome the bottleneck of early industrialization. Therefore, under the background of the Belt and Road Initiative, African developing countries can gain enormous development potential in in-depth cooperation with China from the perspective of new structural economics.
Chenmei Li, Project Research Specialist, Institute of New Structural Economics, Peking University
Chenmei Li presented the co-authored work together with Professor Jiajun Xu on garment cluster development in Guangdong province, which explained China’s early experience from 1979 to 2000. According to cluster development theories, the development of one cluster can be divided into three phases: from 0 to 1, from 1 to N, and from N to Q (quality). During each phase, the cluster faced different comparative advantages and binding constrains. The government has to play its facilitation role by tacking the binding countries and unleash the comparative advantages. She concluded on drawing lessons from China’s experience for Africa’s current development.
Written by: Fangxu Dong
Proofread by: Dr. Jiajun Xu
Chenmei Li
Zuoxiang Zhao
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