Unbalanced development, public services and government responsibility： an analysis based on government preference and government efficiency

Unbalanced development is a prominent issue in China＇s present social and economic operation. It is generally believed that the lack of public services is the direct cause of this problem and that the crux of the issue is the absence of government responsibility. If one distinguishes between two types of unbalanced development, the ＂development stage＂ type and the ＂government responsibility＂ type. it becomes clear that factors related to both supply and demand for public services have together produced the present surge in unbalanced economic development in China, a situation characterized by the combination of the two types of unbalanced development. The economic system of the transition period has limited government efficiency and biased government behavior, so it is the fundamental crux of the current problem. To solve this problem, it will be necessary not only to require that the government assume more responsibility for public services, but also, more importantly, to speed up resolution of the systemic problems that give rise to this bias in government behavior against the background of system transition.

Conquering China＇s Unbalanced and Inadequate Development： Macroeconomic Outlook, Policy Simulations, and Reform Implementation--A Summary of Annual SUFE Macroeconomic Report （2017-2018）

Leaving year 2017 China＇s macroeconomy is continuously characterized by unbalanced and inadequate development. Whereas some aggregate indicators have shown improvement over the year, the cumulative growth rates in consumption and fixed asset investment have continued theirdownward trajectories. Worsening income inequality and resource misallocations, both between secondary and tertiary industries, and within the latter, pose serious challenges, let alone the systemic risk associated with the flourishing shadow banking system, rapid credit growth and debt overhang that weigh on the Chinese economy like the Sword of Damocles. This summary report highlights both the status quo and the consequences of the unbalanced and inadequate development embodied in China＇s persistently distorted economic structure, and the role of deepening reforms of the institutions and governance in resolving the problems. Our analyses based on IAR-CMM model provide a unified framework for addressing China＇s short-, medium-, and long-term issues ir~ an internally coherent manner. Looking into year 2018, our benchmark projection of real GDP growth rate is 6.7% （6.41% using more reliable rather than the official data）. Alternative scenario analyses and policy simulations are conducted to reflect various aspects of the economic challenges in the short to long runs. Through the lens of these analyses we conclude that rule-of-law based and market-oriented structural reforms should continue to hold a center stage in China＇s transition from a phase of high-speed but unbalanced growth, to a stage of balanced and adequate high-quality development.

Urban expansion in China and its effect on cultivated land before and after initiating"Reform and Open Policy"

Urbanization in China has expanded at an unprecedented speed since the declaration of "Reform and Open Policy"and presented many challenges. Unbalanced regional development, appearance of super megacities and concomitant problems,and conflicts between urbanization and cultivated land protection are three critical problems that Chinese urbanization has to face. To develop new plans for foreseeable future urbanization in China, it is critical to understand the evolving history of cities across China. This study maps urban expansion of 60 typical Chinese cities based on large amount of remote sensing data and the labor-intensive image interpretation method, in order to understand the history of urban expansion from the 1970 s to 2013.Results showed that area of cities expanded 5.23 times compared to their area in the 1970 s. Urban expansion in China accelerated three times(1988–1996, 1999–2006, and 2009–2011) and decelerated three times(1997–1998, 2007–2008, and 2012–2013) over the 40 years. The urban area of South China expanded most significantly 9.42 times, while the urban area in Northeast China expanded only 2.37 times. The disparity among different administrative ranks of cities was even greater than(3.81 times) the differences among different regions. Super megacities have been continuously expanding at a fast rate(8.60-fold), and have not shown obvious signs of slowing down. The proportion of cultivated land among the land sources for urban expansion decreased to a small extent in the 1990 s, but cultivated land continues to be the major land source for urban expansion. Effective future urbanization needs controlling the expansion scale of large cities and reasonably developing medium and small cities, as well as balancing regional development.