This proposal seeks preliminary support for development of a fully detailed workshop/symposium proposal on the highly theoretically interesting (and contested) question of how the institutional context of contemporary China has fostered robust economic development over the past several decades despite what traditional theory would suggest is "a recipe for failure." Contemporary China is certainly moving slowly toward a more market-centered economy, apparently despite the absence of well-established guarantees of private property and freedom, of reliable financial markets and ownership guarantees and an independent judiciary (among other factors). Meanwhile, a growing body of work on economic development, technology transfer and commercialization, international strategic alliances and other topics creates a relevant backdrop against which scholars conversant with the Chinese experience and with such data as can be accessed, cries out for integration. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research is recommended to facilitate the development of funding to support new approaches to the established topics of institutional contexts favoring economic development; to take advantage of the availability of the presence of Chinese scholars now resident in North America as well as in China and of well-established U.S. scholars familiar with the Chinese development context; and most particularly to catalyze discussion around this important issue at an especially opportune time, exploring the potential for integrating China into the emerging global economy. It is anticipated that the PI will submit a full proposal subsequently, building on the initial inquiries funded by the present SGER.
