On the morning of November 8, the Panel session “International Cooperation and Development in the New Normal: The One Belt One Road Initiative” held its fourth session at the Sunlight Hall of the Yingjie Exchange Center at Peking University. The topic of this session was “Innovation and Development”.

This session was moderated by Prof. Frank Song of Peking University. Speakers included Prof. Xiao Geng of The University of Hong Kong, Dr. Lixin Colin Xu of the World Bank, Prof. Daniel Trefler of University of Toronto, and Prof. Harry Clarke of University of Melbourne.

 

After a brief general remark on the subject by Prof. Frank Song, the first speaker Prof. Xiao Geng gave a presentation on "China’s Evolving Growth Model: The Foshan Story". He stated that the Foshan Story offers a systematic method of understanding China’s governance and transition to a market-based economy. His talk included four perspectives: Foshan`s GDP, the private-sector-led growth, functions of markets, and future challenges in the development. 

Dr.Lixin Colin Xu of the World Bank shared his results on "Hayek, Local Information and the Decentralization of State-Owned Enterprises in China". He argued that according to Hayek (1945), Chinese government wants to decentralize SOEs to acquire local firm information. His paper provides a new way to understand reforms of Chinese SOEs.

Prof. Daniel Trefler was the third speaker, he gave a talk on "Successfully Transitioning from Low-wage to Innovation-based Competition". He pointed out that China is experiencing the difficult transition from a low-wage competitor to an innovation-based competitor. The transition is essential for a sustainable Chinese growth. His talk included the increase of R&D investments of Chinese firms and the improvement of Chinese intellectual property protections. He also pointed out that the one belt one road policy makers should have clear and organized plans of Asian infrastructure.

 

Last but not least, Prof. Harry Clarke gave his presentation on "Climate Policy Decisions Under Uncertainty". Mr. Clarke argued that the economics of climate mitigation decisions is discussed with imperfect knowledge. Therefore, these economic frameworks are analytically imprecise but offer plausible decision rules that are not informational demanding.

 

Prof. Frank Song and Prof. Li Lianfa of Peking University made a few comments after each presentation. At last, Prof. Frank Song declared the close of this session.