Capitalizing China.

Capitalizing China, edited by Joseph P. H. Fan and Randall Morck, will be available from the University of Chicago Press in late October 2012.

Over the past two decades, China's economic boom has surprised many, particularly given the ongoing role of central government planning there. China's current growth trajectory suggests that the size of its economy could soon surpass that of the United States. Some argue that continued growth and the expanding middle class will ultimately exert pressure on the government to bring about greater openness of the financial markets.

To better understand China's recent economic performance, this NBER Conference Report examines the distinctive system it has developed: "market socialism with Chinese characteristics." While its formal institutional makeup resembles that of a free market economy, many of its practices remain socialist in nature, including strategically placed state owned enterprises that wield influence both directly and through controlled business...