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Over the last 15 years, a set of ideas now referred to as "thinking and working politically" (TWP) has coalesced into a "second orthodoxy" about how to take context into account when implementing development interventions. This approach stresses the importance of obtaining a better understanding of the local context ("thinking politically") in order to support local actors to bring about sustainable developmental change ("working politically"). However, the evidence base to justify this new approach remains thin, despite a growing number of programmes which purport to be implementing it. Officials in development agencies struggle with putting it into practice and it is unclear how TWP differs—or not—from similar approaches, such as Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) and Doing Development Differently (DDD). This Special Issue sheds light on what TWP means in practice by examining a set of initiatives undertaken by both development partners and government departments in Nigeria, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, China and India. This overview article outlines, in brief, each of the Special Issue's four papers and then draws out five lessons—for funders and for practitioners—from across all the papers. Our five lessons are: (1) the fundamental importance of undertaking political economy analysis (PEA) to adapt programmes to their contexts; (2) the importance of having a realistic level of ambition for interventions; (3) the need to support local ownership—not just "agreement ownership" (between a donor agency and government) or local "management ownership" of the programme, but critically "driver ownership" by generating trust with the key local actors driving change; (4) the need for a more effective set of tools for measuring results in complex programmes that attempt to achieve improvements in long‐run governance; and, (5) that although the political economy of donors is often seen as a barrier to applying TWP, the articles show how much can be done with a TWP approach if the analysis takes into account the political economy of donors as well as that of the local context. We conclude with a set of operational recommendations for donors and implementors, as well as suggestions of avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: To prevent job losses, firms facing insolvency in China may be kept running by bank credit, even though they show few signs of returning to profit. These loss-making firms are termed "zombies". Purpose: Does keeping zombie firms operating block access to credit for financially healthy firms, thereby slowing their growth, and consequently the number of jobs they might create? We analyse the effect of zombie firms within a postal zone--a sub-division of the county--on the growth of employment in non-zombie firms in the same zone. Methods and approach: Zombie firms are identified as those that have been unprofitable for at least two successive years, and that have a high and rising ratio of liabilities to assets. Data come from China's industrial enterprise database for 1998-2008 and 2011-2013, gathered from manufacturing, extractive industry, and utilities enterprises with annual sales of more than RMB 5 million (RMB 20 million for 2011 and beyond). It covers between 83,000 and 217,000 firms for the years examined. We use regression to examine the relationship between the presence of zombie firms and employment growth in healthy firms. We test the robustness of the analysis. Findings: Between 1999 and 2013 the share of firms in the database classified as zombies fell from almost 10% to under 3%. Regression analysis shows that the presence of zombies in the same postal code does indeed slow the growth of employment in healthy firms. This effect is stronger for private firms, small firms, and those located in central China. Results are robust when considering start-up firms, analysing relations at county level, and checking for endogeneity. We show that the most likely mechanism that slows the growth of healthy firms is being crowded out of credit markets by banks that allocate their limited credit to keep zombies operating. Policy implications: While it is tempting for government to pressure banks to keep zombie firms operating, thereby avoiding them shutting down with loss of jobs, the cost is high in slowing the growth of financially healthy firms. Banks should offer credit based on expected returns and risk, rather than keeping insolvent firms going. Local and national government should take note that protecting zombie firms has medium-and long-term costs in lost growth of employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Motivation: From 2002, local governments and village collectives in China have been allowed and encouraged to facilitate and formalize agricultural land rentals. Before, most temporary land transfers within villages were informal agreements between farmers who knew each other well. Changes were introduced to make it easier for outsiders to rent land, and thereby bring capital and know‐how to the village. Purpose: This study tests whether public intervention increases market‐based land rentals and how it affects rentals among acquaintances. Methods and approach: Drawing on data from the 2017 and 2019 China Family Panel Surveys conducted in 29 provinces, ordinary least squares and fixed effect models are used to test the effects of public intervention in agricultural rentals. Findings: Public intervention increases land rentals and the widespread use of written contracts for defined periods. Rentals between acquaintances within the same village have become more formal, with rents at market levels. When local authorities facilitate land rentals in villages, all rentals become more formal, with market‐based rents. Policy implications: Public intervention in Chinese agricultural land rental has reduced transaction costs for outsiders, has led to more market‐based rentals, and has facilitated land transfers—in a setting where some farmers are looking to switch from farming to off‐farm work. Policy changes have worked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on household survey data, this article shows that farmers' demand for credit in poor areas of rural China has increased significantly in recent years, and credits from various sources are used differently in production and consumption. For example, microfinance is used primarily in livestock and non-agricultural investments, formal credit is often used in crop production, and informal credit is largely used to meet farmers' consumption requirements. Developing a complementary system with various financial channels in rural China, particularly for non-governmental microfinance, is crucial for meeting farmers' rising demand for credit in both production and consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth and internationalisation of the Chinese economy have reconfigured the global value chains of many commodities with important implications for industry and rural and regional development both in and outside China. This article analyses the chain for cashmere, all stages of which have gravitated to China, and the impacts on rural development, especially for herders in remote pastoral regions. Traditionally a high-value product, cashmere has become increasingly generic and adulterated over the past decade. More formal and closer integration of Chinese actors into the global industry and re-orienting policy from supply-side intervention to the enforcement of standards would enhance the competitiveness of Chinese cashmere in international fibre markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: In the field of international development assistance, China has been undergoing a transition from being a receiving to a sending country. In addition to growing its foreign aid budget, China has been making great efforts to send volunteers to serve overseas. To date, however, there has been relatively little research on the expansion of China's international development volunteering (IDV) actions. Purpose: This exploratory study examines the characteristics of IDV programmes initiated and funded by the Chinese government. Specifically, we investigate how various IDV mechanisms have been developed to incorporate specific actors, and analyse how these arrangements serve the sponsors' interests. Approach and methods: We use a qualitative case‐study approach and conduct in‐depth analyses on three influential state‐funded IDV programmes. Data were collected from semi‐structured interviews and secondary documentary materials. Findings: Research findings from three Chinese IDV programmes indicate that the hybridization dynamics of IDV are reflected in their different programme mechanisms, whereby intra‐, non‐ and extra‐state actors from international, central and local levels are connected as contributors. Volunteer resources are transformed, through different mechanisms, into development resources to benefit the hosting countries, and into public diplomacy resources, technical resources, and human capital for the sponsors' own interests. Policy implications: This study highlights the hybrid nature of state‐funded IDV practices and shows the evolution of Chinese IDV from traditional official‐to‐official linkages to more diverse and spontaneous forms involving different non‐state actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: Advanced industrial economies that used to advocate and implement charitable foreign assistance have started to (re)adopt mercantilist development finance by using official development finance credits to support private firms. This seems to be in response to the mercantilist practice of emerging Southern development partners. Purpose: This article compares mercantilist practice by Northern and Southern development partners by examining how and why the public financial agencies of China and Japan offer state‐backed credits to businesses in different ways. Approach and methods: The practices of China's two national policy banks—China Development Bank (CDB) and Export‐Import Bank of China (Chexim), were compared to those of Japan's two public financial agencies—Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Quantitative data was obtained from published primary sources, including official histories, annual reports and financial statements of the agencies as well as public financial almanacs and policy documents. In the absence of official data, open‐source secondary data collected by research institutes and agencies was used. Between 2016 and 2019, the author conducted 59 interviews in China and 15 in Japan with officials of the financial agencies, their clients, other stakeholders and researchers. Findings: Chinese firms rely largely on public financial agencies to win international contracts. Japanese firms borrow from public financial agencies primarily for overseas investment projects, which may also attract private finance. Policy implications: China's rise has triggered Japan as well as other older industrial economies to respond by (re)adopting mercantilist development finance policies to encourage commercial investors to engage in development co‐operation. However, the looser relations between state and firms in older industrial economies such as Japan makes it harder to encourage private firms to follow state strategies and invest in underdeveloped regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: What motivates China to offer development finance in recipient countries? Research on Chinese development finance focuses on China's political and economic interests in allocating development finance. Few studies, however, have assessed the impact of international norms and regulation—a neo‐institutional perspective—on China's development finance. Purpose: The article tests the three sets of hypotheses on Chinese development finance, positing that countries will receive more Chinese aid if: (1) they have a UN General Assembly voting alliance with China and do not recognize Taiwan; (2) the more oil and gas reserves they have; and (3) the more memberships of intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), such as the UN agencies, and international non‐governmental organizations (INGOs), which include non‐profit organizations and charities, such as Oxfam, as well as foundations and professional associations. Approach and Methods: This study models the amount of Chinese aid received by developing countries as a function of its integration to IGOs/INGO networks. It draws on data from AidData's Global Chinese Official Finance Dataset, 2000–2014. The model used is ordinary least square regression using fixed effects. Conclusions: Chinese aid allocation does not only reflect its political and economic interests. Taiwan recognition continues to be the dominant factor for Chinese development finance. IGO and INGO memberships of recipient countries increase the chance of receiving more Chinese development funding, especially for least developed countries. Policy Implications: Chinese development finance provides many developmental opportunities for less developed countries. A key aspect of getting Chinese development finance has been alliance with China. Linkages to IGOs and INGOs also matter. Countries aiming to get Chinese development finance should consider increasing their memberships to transnational networks of IGOs and INGOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: In the last decade, economic and political ties between China and African countries grew fast, fuelling a heated debate about the implications for the latter and for the global system of China's engagement in Africa. Purpose: The article reviews the existing evidence on the nature, causes and impact of China's economic engagement in Africa. Approach and methods: The review focuses mainly on the economic literature with a quantitative focus. Findings: China's reasons to engage with Africa are not so different from those of western countries: securing natural resources and seeking new export markets. However, there is evidence that China is less interested in the quality of governance and institutions of its African partners. The literature tends to agree on the positive growth effects for African countries of Chinese interest, but also suggests that their already thin manufacturing sector could be adversely affected by Chinese competition and that the increasing natural resource specialization of African countries might hamper diversification, structural transformation and future growth prospects. At the same time Chinese investments are building valuable infrastructure and linkages with local firms, which are growing although still very limited. The emergent trend of increasing presence of small and medium Chinese firms in Africa is promising in this respect. Policy implications: Increased Chinese interactions with African countries present opportunities as well as threats for African countries. A key aspect will be the capacity of Chinese presence in Africa to spread to the local economy through spillover effects and linkages to the domestic economy. Both sides should introduce policies aimed at strengthening these linkages and spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: The relationship between unequal fiscal resources among regions and China's economic growth remains unclear due to its possibly different short‐ and long‐run directions. This study considers the role of unequal fiscal resources among regions in China's economic growth. Purpose: The article develops an empirical model to investigate the effect of unequal regional distribution of fiscal resources on China's economic growth in the short and long run in the post‐reform period. Approach and Methods: A time‐series data during the 1979–2010 period is used, adopting the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach plus co‐integration with two indicators of inequality, the GINI coefficient (GINI) and coefficient of variance (CV), calculated from different components of provincial fiscal revenue. Six model specifications of the ARDL plus co‐integration equation are estimated. Findings: The primary finding is that, in the short run, China's regional fiscal distribution inequality has a negative one‐year lagged effect on its economic growth as the fiscal subsidy from central government is considered. However, the long‐run equilibrium relationship between fiscal inequality and economic growth in China is positive during the research period. Policy Implications: As China is pursuing sustainable economic growth and trying ultimately to achieve equal regional development, this study thus suggests that China should continue to support the principle of 'let some people grow rich first', perhaps implying that some regions should have more fiscal resources to develop successfully first. This will eventually benefit the country's overall economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how strategies of thinking and working politically are used by agencies within developing country governments to influence wider government agendas. It uses research on climate change mitigation in China and India to explore how government agencies seek to overcome challenges of limited capacity and competing priorities by bundling climate change together with more immediate priorities and thereby developing a coalition with an interest in achieving these objectives. The article is based on interviews conducted in China and India, as well as analysis of themes covered in the growing body of literature on the domestic politics of climate change mitigation. In both countries we found that pragmatic approaches leveraging what already exists made significant progress in putting energy efficiency on the agenda, strengthening institutional presence (in India) and delivering improvements in energy efficiency (in China). Yet, we also found that the use of these tactics had significant limitations. While there was probably no other way that the policy space given to climate change mitigation could have increased so rapidly, there are significant side effects that arise as a result of the traction gained by these initial policy approaches. While bundling raised the profile of energy efficiency, it also created perverse incentives that highlight the need to consider the long‐term effect on the interests, capacity and sustainability of informal coalitions. We highlight the need to take account of both the short‐ and long‐term effects of thinking and working politically, and the challenges of doing so when the outcomes are unpredictable and inherently difficult to assess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This article uses the city of Shanghai as a case study to analyze the changing institutional mechanisms for the new urban poverty stratum in China. Specifically, the article examines urban poverty in relation to economic restructuring and the transformation of the welfare provision system in three stages of market reforms. The article first examines the overall economic growth strategies at the national level, and then examines local government policy outcomes at the city level. The impacts of institutional changes on urban poverty and social inequality are subsequently. Finally, the article assesses the current poverty reduction policies and proposes a “social inclusion” framework to alleviate urban poverty in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks, through the use of a gravity model, to verify if in the 2000-2009 years Chinese exports have displaced exports from other countries in third markets. The contribution of this article is to provide an overview of Chinese competition, covering different regions and technology categories in a comparative way. The evidence shows that the effect of Chinese exports on global exports is mainly negative. The medium technology manufacturing sector is the segment most affected by Chinese competition. The results also indicate that developing economies are experiencing the most negative effect of Chinese competition, especially the emerging Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the overseas behaviour of Chinese non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in two African nations, Ethiopia and Malawi, with varying political regime types. Our findings suggest that, irrespective of regime type, Chinese NGOs have yet to make a substantial impact in either nation. We argue that, despite the strength of the Chinese state and high levels of international development assistance given, domestic politics and regulatory frameworks in host nations still matter a great deal. Our study suggests that the Chinese model of international development will continue to be one in which temporary one-off projects are favoured; and, insofar as social organisations will play a role, they will be in the domain of government-organised NGOs rather than grassroots NGOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa's external relations are currently undergoing major changes. Non-traditional state actors like China and India are reviving their ties with African economies and thereby affecting power relations between African states and traditional partners. Meanwhile, high commodity prices and improved credit ratings make external finance available for African governments. This article examines how non-traditional state actors affect the possibility of African governments setting and funding their own development priorities. It argues that while the current situation may increase the policy autonomy for African economies this is largely a consequence of the increased availability of external finance - and not just from non-traditional state actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The international system is still governed by a normative framework designed mainly by OECD countries, especially with regard to soft-law standards in the field of development co-operation. However, the growing relevance of ‘Eastern donors’ is weakening its efficiency and raises the question of how compliance with these standards can be assured in a changing donor landscape. Despite efforts to integrate emerging countries into the traditional approach of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to monitoring compliance through peer reviews, the aid architecture of the future might turn out to be a synthesis of established and new approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The supermarket revolution is spreading faster in China than anywhere else in the world. Supermarket sales are growing by 30–40% per year, 2–3 times faster than in other developing regions. This development has been driven by factors shared by other developing countries as well as by China-specific policies. It presents opportunities for Chinese agricultural producers to diversify into activities with higher income prospects, and for procurement systems to move into dealing directly with farmers. However, supermarket managers face several unique challenges: average farm size is small and farmers are not well organised. Hence, the whole supply chain must be upgraded, and government agricultural policy and rural development programmes have an important role in this. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alongside economic growth, inequality and insecurity have increased rapidly in China. Groups formerly excluded from the security of the ‘iron rice bowl’ are now excluded from new forms of social assistance, often designed to compensate those losing livelihood guarantees. There is thus a need for new safety–net measures, both to assist the most vulnerable and least secure members of society throughout the transition, and to enhance their longer–term security. This article argues that compensatory arrangements can be effective only alongside a complementary set of social protection policies including increased investment in human resources. Better–designed interventions could strengthen rather than undermine existing informal safety nets, and allow an expanded role for nongovernmental organisations in social protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an empirical study of the role of institutions in China's state-owned forest management. Organization of a command economy and its difference from the market economy in terms of cost savings; Reforms effected by the Chinese government on its forestry sector; General performance of the country's state-owned enterprises; Insufficient investment in forestry.

Examines the regional inputs and productivity of workers in China. Variation of physical capital intensity, human capital per worker and productivity; Importance of the open-door economic policy in explaining productivity differences among regions; Policy implications for developing countries.

Examines the degree of congruence between state land tenure policy and small-group common property arrangements among Kazak pastoralists in Xinjiang-Uighur Autonomous Region in China. Concepts of synergy and co-management of natural resources; Historical perspective on the relationships between state, pastoral society and land tenure; Decollectivisation process.

The article offers information on the historical development of rural enterprises in Jiangsu province, China, factors impeding their continued growth and discusses ownership changes introduced to address these problems. As reported, rural enterprises first emerged in southern Jiangsu but never prospered till 1970s because of the lack of technology, limitation of local markets but after that rural enterprises obtained access to skilled labour and filled the gaps in planning regime of China. As cited, today rural enterprises in Jiangsu has lost its first-mover advantage and their product mix is not suited to consumer markets. Information on the ownership reforms initiated by government to ensure that rural enterprises remain competitive in international and domestic markets is given.

Addresses the issue of why local economic protectionism has arisen in China's economic reforms since 1979. Emergence of the local economic protectionism; Cause of protectionism; Reasons behind the outbreak of local protectionism; Discussion on the effectiveness of tax-assignment reforms.

Discusses the implications of the proliferation of non-tax levies in China. Scale and structure of non-tax revenue in China; Sources and mechanisms underpinning non-tax levies; Socio-economic impact of the proliferation of non-tax levies; Obstacles to reform; Feasible changes in the light of China's economic conditions.