"The Political Economy of Public Finance Reform of China" - a talk by Masahiko Aoki, Takahashi Professor Emeritus, Economics, Stanford University

Since its 1994 reform of public finance, China has made substantial accomplishments in transforming tax and expenditure mechanisms, but this has also created new problems. These problems are very much of a political economy nature, related to the relationships between the central government and local governments of different levels, relationships among interest groups, and so on. A comparative developmental perspective may shed some light on the nature of these problems. Professor Aoki recently participated in the High Level Developmental Forum hosted by the State Council of China and had opportunities to exchange views on the present state of the Chinese economy and emergent agendas with the Prime Minister and various Economic Ministers.