Atypical look at world's economy and China's path

China's rapid economic development in the past three decades has drawn worldwide attention among economists and ordinary people. And China's unique path has both been applauded and debated.

A new book, titled An Outline of World Economy: Research on Typical and Atypical Path of Development, has shed some light on this issue by analyzing China's unique path in the past decades against the backdrop of a long span of global economic development since 1500.

The author, Jiang Hong, an economist and executive vice-president of the Institute of China Development Bank, has summarized the world economic development, the major challenges facing the world economy as well as the impact on world's economy and politics by China's rapid economic development. His research has combined both economic theories and economic history.

Summing up China's economic growth track, Jiang argued that China represents an atypical economic development path different from the typical path experienced by many Western countries, in particular the United Kingdom and the United States.

Pointing out China's unique features has provided food for thought for the world, the author, nevertheless, believes that there are common laws in the world economic development.

However, China only accounts for a fraction of the 340,000-Chinese-character and 14-chapter book introducing the world economy since the 1500, from the First Industrial Revolution to world economy in the Cold War era, the rising of Europe and Japan and later the emerging economies.

The book also provides a systematic analysis of the shift in industrial restructure as well as the international division of labor and urbanization related to the shift.

Bai Gao, professor of markets and management studies at Duke University, called the book one of the most valuable Chinese language books on world economy.

Gao praised the book for analyzing the world economy by using an "atypical methodology" emphasizing macroscopic, historical and comparative study rather than the "typical" research based on mathematical models.

"The debate raised by the author over the difference of typical and atypical economic development paths will be greatly helpful for us to understand what path China should adopt in the next 20 and 30 years," the Study Times newspaper quoted Gao as saying.

Chen Jiyong, dean of the Economics and Management School of Wuhan University, described Jiang's novel approach as a way to better help people understand China's development path.

"Hopefully China, in pursuing an atypical development path, can find a mechanism to change the unbalanced global economy and achieve a rebalance," Chen said.