The political economy of China's future

Abstract

The Chinese economy and political system have evolved, perhaps even matured, to a point whereby researchers within and without academia deem it appropriate to shift their attention from the immediate past, and of course the present, to the long‐term future. Institutional changes, particularly WTO accession, and the challenges posed by modern technology are reinforcing this trend. The more policy sensitive of the two most ambitious exercises in crystal ball gazing, it is argued here, has yielded fascinating insights but, inevitably so given the nature of the undertaking, the questions to which it gives rise match both quantitatively and qualitatively the answers provided.