Foreign trade and economic reform in China, 1978-1990 /

Between 1978 and 1989 China's trade volume expanded so rapidly that the PRC rose from 32nd to 13th rank among world trading nations. While China became a major player in international markets, those markets in turn spurred its domestic economic growth. In 1990, for instance, fully a third of China's textile output (the world's largest) was exported abroad. This is a phenomenon by now familiar in any North American shopping mall, but one that deserves an authoritative analysis. Lardy's study fills the bill by tracing the policy reforms that converted an autarkic pre-1978 "import substitution trade regime" into today's dynamic commercial power. His discussion centers around the processes of domestic currency devaluation, relaxation of exchange controls, and deconcentration of authority over foreign trade. The author also makes frequent comparisons between the PRC and other developing nations. The least surprising element in the study is Lardy's conclusion that continued domestic market liberalization is a sine qua non if the PRC's opening to world markets is to continue to speed the country's economic modernization. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate and graduate collections.-R. P. Gardella, United States Merchant Marine Academy