Domestic General Development of the People’s Republic of China: An Interregional Comparative Analysis

Abstract:     
Rapid economic growth and expanding trade of the People’s Republic of China is not a purely economic phenomenon but a multidimensional one. This chapter evaluates the prospects of Eastern China (coastal) and Western China (inland) from a multidimensional perspective encompassing the political, social, economic and technological dimensions. To do so, this chapter introduces a new analytical model – the Domestic General Development (DGD) Model which is based on the General Dimension of Regional Integration (GDRI) Model by Ruiz (2004a). The DGD-Model is based on the application of a group of new indicators and graphs. These new indices and graphs are designed to show the evolution and stages of the development process of any country from a general perspective.The DGD-Model is not intended to be used as a forecasting model in any case. However, its application is not limited to the study of a special group of countries. It is not constrained by issues about the region or countries that are interested in applying the DGD-Model (see Ruiz, 2004a). The difference between the DGD-Model and other analytical models, such as the human development index is that DGD-Model presents a general understanding in the study of development process from the economic, political, social and technological perspectives simultaneously. The objective of the DGD-Model is to offer policy-makers and researchers a new alternative analytical toolbox for studying the results achieved for any country in its development process. Our main finding is that there exists a wide and growing gap between the two Chinas (Eastern and Western China) in terms of political, social, economic and technological development as well as overall development.

Keywords: Chinese Economy, China Development, Income Distribution

JEL Classification: F15

Accepted Paper Series