An international conference on the microeconomic drivers of China’s growth, particularly focused on studies of productivity, innovation, labour productivity, among others, is to be held on 29-30 September 2008 at St. Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, jointly organised with the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) at Beijing University.

The general conclusion of the literature is that China’s economic growth can only be sustained with continual improvements in productivity – that is, via innovation and the development of a more efficient private sector which can help support China’s reform process while providing the necessary incentives to boost growth.

This Conference seeks detailed studies at the micro level to provide much needed evidence concerning the sustainability of China’s economic growth.

Papers addressing the below issues are invited, though any empirical studies of private sector development, productivity, innovation/technological upgrading, market structure/ competitiveness, self-employment/ entrepreneurship, small and medium sized enterprises/ private firms, human capital/ skills formation, labour market reform, labour productivity, performance of listed firms, reform of state-owned enterprises and banks, financial sector development, efficiency of capital markets, microeconomic aspects of globalisation, legal/regulatory and institutional reform, social/equity implications, and micro/macro links determining growth in China such as macroeconomic stability/crises would be welcome.

• To what extent have small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) developed and what types of reform would make them competitive in international markets?
• China’s evolving market structure, e.g., degree of competition and market integration.
• Which firms are the most productive and innovative, and why?
• Patterns of technological upgrading in Chinese goods/exports.
• Private sector development and state of reform of the state-owned sector, including corporate governance and regulatory reform.
• Financial sector development and efficiency of capital allocation.
• Developments in China’s labour market and estimates of labour productivity.
• Contributors to TFP growth in China.
• Drivers of innovation and technological progress.
• What is the role of globalisation in China’s growth prospects?
• How have global capital markets affected the marketisation process?
• Social/equity implications of China’s economic growth, including the rural-urban divide and sustainable development.
• Comparative analyses of China’s transition and growth estimates with other transition/ developing economies.

Abstracts, including details of the data and the methodology used in the analysis, are invited to be submitted by 30 April 2008 by e-mail to the co-organisers, Professor Yang Yao and Dr. Linda Yueh (linda.yueh@economics.ox.ac.uk). Accepted papers will be notified after May 2008.

There is the possibility that a number of papers presented will be selected for a symposium on the subject in the Journal of Comparative Economics or the Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies. Selected papers will be subject to the usual double-blind refereeing process.