Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Yu, Sherry

Area of Concentration

International and Area Studies

Abstract

This thesis offers an analysis of China’s development internationally and domestically after it adopted policies of decentralization, eventually providing an example of its culmination via its retail market. The People’s Republic of China needed to evolve from the constraints of a centralized system with lofty and sporadic goals and allow more localized economic development before it could attain the pattern of rapid growth that it has in modern context. China utilized the economic reforms of the late 1970’s to accomplish this, initially employing unrefined enterprise systems such as Township & Village Enterprises to more structured business models both private and public. This shift was accompanied with growing labor wages which were particularly lopsided towards eastern and coastal provinces due to runaway investments in these regions. I find this to be in congruence with the Gravity Model of Trade. China is poised to become more relevant in the world than ever before as a result of these developments as China has begun to overtake the West as of 2016 in retail consumption and the evolution of its sportswear and sneaker industries are a key example of this. Ultimately, this data provides us with an economically-unprecedented insight into how this model of rapid growth from decentralization can affect and enhance the consumer market of the given nation.

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