Preface: China and Global South Development

Economic development remains a tough challenges for the global south. Since the second world war, scholars made continuous efforts trying to formulate theories driving economic development. International organizations also devised the Washington Consensus to guide policymaking in developing countries. The results remain mixed, to say the best, as only a tiny portion of the developing countries succeeded in rising to high-income during the past decades. Limited effectiveness of the Washington Consensus is probably related to the facts that market mechanisms are often not mature in developing countries and market failure problems are common even in developed economies. The successful experiences of China and other East Asian economies took a more pragmatic approach in policymaking and stroke a better balance between the efficient market and the proactive state. Such policy approach is probably more suitable for the developing countries. It should be worthwhile to explore, on the basis of those successful experience, the Global South Consensus.