The recycling of current account and/or financial account surpluses through the accumulation of foreign exchange reserves by emerging countries after the 1999-2001 crisis, particularly by China, has been described as “smoking but not inhaling in international financial markets”.

CEPII launches its third Policy Brief: “China’s Roadmap to Harmonious Society. Third Plenum Decisions on ‘major issues concerning comprehensively deepening reforms’.”

The special and differential treatment granted to developing countries, a key principle in the multilateral trading system, now appears broken-down. Based on a speech given at the WTO Forum, this post reviews -with a focus on agriculture- why this is so and what could be done.

The current turmoil in emerging capital markets is the result of a classical reversal of market sentiment after an excess of optimism. There are good reasons for being cautiously optimistic but uncertainties remain.

As remarkable as its economic growth, China’s income distribution has been worsening since mid-1980s. Inequality across regions, occupations and between individual all rose dramatically. More importantly, it did so in a short time.

The banking reforms that took place in India in the mid 90s have improved the availability of credit. However, the effects of financial development on firms’ growth appear to be unequal depending on their characteristics. Where are the gains from credit expansion concentrated?

Although it is not advertised on its website, the Paris branch of the Bank of China is now offering its customers residing in France to open an account in Renminbi (RMB), the Chinese currency. This is a modest but symbolic advance of the big maneuvers that have taken place for the past two years around the currency of the second world economy.

The eurozone crisis presents a risk for Asian economies. Mainly, the crisis could spread through trade and various financial channels.Yet, economic impact of spillovers is not the only reason why Asia has a specific interest in the survival of the euro.

China joined the WTO in December 2001. China and its partners had been negotiating the conditions of its accession since 1987 with two fundamental goals: integrate China into the global economy and anchor the process of domestic economic reforms and opening up.