A Comparative Study of the Economic Reforms in China and India: What Can We Learn?

Abstract

The last quarter of the twentieth century was characterized by economic reforms in many formerly state-dominated economies. Among them, the reform attempts by China and India have attracted increasing attention in the popular media and academic research. This paper contribute to this research by using institutional theory to analyse the reforms in China and India and develop a framework to explain how reforms evolve. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of the dynamics of reform, helps policy-makers to formulate reform strategy, and international business executives to project the developmental trends in two of the world's largest emerging markets.

Keywords: China, India, economic reform, institutional change