Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pollution Across Chinese Provinces, Catherine Y. Co, Fanying Kong, Shuanglin Lin

Catherine Co

The market-oriented economic reforms that started in 1978 have greatly transformed the Chinese economy. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) were allowed to operate and compete on free market principles, rather than under the direction and guidance of state planning; special economic zones were established along the coast for the purpose of attracting foreign direct investments, boosting exports, and importing high-technology products; and, private enterprises were legalized and promoted. With these reforms, the average annual growth rate of China’s real GDP was close to 10 percent from 1979 to 2007, compared to a prereform growth rate of around 5 percent from 1960 to …