EconAir

      It was a lovely summer day – nice and warm, not too hot. Ribbit hopped down to the pond and decided to tan her legs. She was lying lazily on a lily pad, half asleep. Whenever she felt a little movement in the air, she quickly stuck out her long tongue and caught a fly. Then she caught a grasshopper. Before Ribbit could eat the grasshopper, it cried out “Wait! If I could teach you how to hop better, would you let me go?” Ribbit thought about the frog race that was about to start in the big, open field. Ribbit didn’t enter the races because most of the other frogs were bigger or had stronger legs than her. “OK,” said Ribbit. The grasshopper said, “I’ve been watching all you frogs hop and you’re really not very good at it. Some of you are too big and fat and others hop too hard. That’s why you hop a little bit and then have to rest. I’ll show you how to be a better hopper. When you hop, lean your body forward, push your face up and out and stick out your tongue. That’l...

    Overview China has been a spectacular economic success story. After the death of Mao in 1976, a more pragmatic group of Communist leaders seized power and began to change China. Their model was Singapore, whose population was mostly Chinese. Singapore’s economic growth model was that the dominant political party would direct economic growth. It invested in infrastructure, including condos for most of its population. It directed investment. It invited foreign companies to invest in the country. It became part of the global economy. China did much of the same but since it was much larger, it had to go further. It liberalized agriculture, going from huge communes to allowing individual farmers to rent land. That doubled food production. Then it concentrated on manufacturing, with favorable laws on taxation. Foreign companies were invited in but they had to partner with a Chinese company, which accelerated China’s absorption of foreign technology and management. After catching...