Undertake a case study of the influence of globalisation on China or India, including an evaluation of the strategies used to promote economic growth and development in India’s or China’s economy.
The process of globalisation has had a highly positive effect on China’s economic growth and development. Globalisation refers that the process of increased integration of economies, so that they become more interlinked and reliant upon one another. This is not to say that globalisation has been a faultless process as Deng Xiaoping himself has realised when he initiated reform in the late 1970s, “if you open the window, along with fresh air, foul air too would come”. China has experienced dramatic economic growth since economic reforms were initiated in 1978. This changed the country from a central planned economy to a decentralised market-based economy. These reforms stimulated industrial and agricultural production and attracted large quantities of foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country. Exposure to foreign competition also forced Chinese companies to become more efficient and adaptable. A primary achievement of the reforms was the reallocation of resources from the public to the private sector.
Researchers have identified improvements in productivity and capital accumulation as drivers of China’s rapid and sustained economic growth.[footnoteRef:1] Improvements in these areas originate from the governments ambitious reform programs undertaken in 1978 and onwards including the “open door policy.” As a result of these reforms there was stimulated industrial and agricultural production, which in turn attracted mass foreign direct investment to China. The key element of the reforms under Deng Xiaoping was the reallocation of resources from the public to the private sector. This is clearly evident by the sustained GDP growth rate of 9.7% between 1979 and 2006. The pre-reform period was characterised by poor economic performance due to inefficient planning. The agricultural sector was publically owned and a majority of economic production was “dictated by quotas rather than supply and demand.”[footnoteRef:2] In 1979 78% of all industrial output was controlled by state owned enterprises. International trade in 1978 only accounted for 11% of economic activity, characteristics of government policies promoting and emphasising ‘self-sufficiency’. The extensive reforms that commenced in 1978 re-oriented the country from a centrally planned economy towards an increasingly decentralised and market-based economy. Since economic reforms GDP has increased from US $189.4 billion in 1978 to $US 356.9 billion in 1990 to US$ 10.36 trillion in 2014. The increase in productivity as a result of a shift towards a market-oriented system in what drove the economic boom in addition with capital accumulation. As indicated by these statistics globalisation has significantly improved China’s financial system. [1: The University of Adelaide, 2012, Charting China’s Econo...
