This timely volume on China's economic "New Normal" features articles by leading scholars from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and other research institutions across the country. A broad range of perennial as well as hot-bottom topics related not just to economic growth but also to its social and political ramifications are covered, including patterns of growth, income distribution, domestic consumption, the global economic dynamics, and policy responses to these and other developments. Contributors not only combine theoretical and empirical analyses of these critical issues but also examine the historical background and the social context to what may be one of the most significant developments not just for China but also for the rest of the world.

According to the neoclassical growth theory and the endogenous growth theory, changes in the stock of capital and labor affect economic growth rates in the short run, and differences in human capital stocks are likely to affect total factor productivity directly and long-term economic growth rates indirectly. Therefore, human capital is a factor in the secular trends of regional economic gaps. In this study, the author examines the relationship between regional economic disparities and the country’s human capital stocks and structure in China between 1990 and 2015, a period of economic transformation in the country. Available empirical evidence supports the argument that boosting investment toward and optimizing the spatial distribution of human capital can help mitigate regional economic disparity and facilitate balanced and coordinated economic development across the country.