Commentary from the Web, Week 46, 2020

China: Still the world’s growth engine after COVID-19  

Consumers, one of the key drivers powering China’s economic rebound, have regained confidence and are spending at levels seen before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A report by McKinsey & Company, the global consultancy.

 

From Bob Marley to Peter Tosh: the reggae empire built by a Chinese-Jamaican family

VP Records’ Patricia Chin, born and bred in Jamaica, celebrates the 40th anniversary of her famous reggae record store opening in New York.

Thanks to Rasheed Griffith for this feature from the South China Morning Post. You won’t be able to read the full article without a subscription, but you can read the story of Chin and VP Records here.

 

China's Dazzling Transport-Infrastructure Growth

“We document an unprecedented change in the size and the quality of China's transport-infrastructure network between 2000 and 2013. This documentation is based on hand-collected and digitized data on roads and railways.” Their analysis “suggests that the long-run consequences of the transport-infrastructure changes induce regional convergence of lagging-behind prefectures in terms of population density and, to a lesser extent, in terms of real per-capita income.”

This study is from the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a European think tank.

China's Dazzling Transport-Infrastructure Growth

Beijing Will Formalize Its Post-Growth Platform in New Five-Year Plan

“It’s five–year plan (FYP) time again! While much of the world continues to focus on the pandemic, Beijing is setting its sights on the next five years and its broader vision for 2035.”

Thanks to Rasheed Griffith for this enlightening article from Macropolo.

 

How the China International Import Expo and the Belt and Road Initiative complement each other

From CGTN, an Op-Ed by Stephen Ndegwa, a Nairobi-based communication expert, lecturer-scholar at the United States International University-Africa, author, and international affairs columnist.

 

The Structure of Business Taxation in China

“This paper documents facts about the structure of business taxation in China using administrative tax data from 2007 to 2011 from the State Taxation Administration. We first document the importance of different business taxes across industries. While corporate income taxes play an important role for manufacturing firms, these firms also remit a large share of their tax payments through the value-added tax system, through the excise tax system and through payroll taxes. Gross receipts taxes play an important role for firms in other industries, leading to spillovers that may affect the overall economy. Second, we evaluate whether the structure of China’s tax revenue matches its stage of development.”

This study is by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a US think tank.