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BPEA | Fall 2006

Editors’ Summary of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity – 2006 No 2

Fall 2006


THE BROOKINGS PANEL ON Economic Activity held its eighty-second conference
in Washington, D.C., on September 7 and 8, 2006. This issue of
the Brookings Papers includes the papers and discussions presented at the
conference. All three papers in this issue explore various aspects of the
Chinese economy, which has grown rapidly in recent decades to become
one of the world’s largest. The first paper analyzes recent productivity
growth in China and the prospects for China’s economic catch-up with the
international productivity frontier. The second paper estimates current rates
of return on investment in China to gauge whether the country’s high
investment rate is sustainable. The third paper examines the state of China’s
banks and assesses the prospects for successful banking reform.