Construction Planning Reforms for Growth and Investment

Construction Planning Reforms for Growth and Investment

Author: Agnese Carella

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2024-07-24

Total Pages: 14

ISBN-13:

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The UK construction planning system is overly stringent and the localized and discretionary system of decision-making makes it highly unpredictable. It hinders new construction (both residential and commercial) and infrastructure projects, restricting labor mobility (as workers stay trapped in suboptimal jobs due to unaffordable housing in areas with better prospects). It also raises investment costs for businesses, who often endure long and uncertain wait times or are forced to relocate to suboptimal locations. International and domestic experience suggests that a concerted overhaul of the system is needed, focusing on systemic reforms that reduce discretionary decision-making in granting permissions. While this is politically difficult, tangible progress is possible around a few key areas: (i) broader geographic and rules-based decision-making for business and large residential developments to reduce uncertainty for investors; (ii) digitalized and standardized plans at the local level which are, additionally, binding for designated growth areas; (iii) careful review of scope to release Green Belt land of little environmental or amenity value near stations with easy access to major cities; and (iv) targeted incentives (to overcome new builds resistance) and resources to local authorities (including skilled staff to facilitate compliance with new environmental requirements)


China’s 40 Years of Economic Reform and Development

China’s 40 Years of Economic Reform and Development

Author: Xinli Zheng

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-10-12

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 9811327270

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This book aims to explain the secret to China’s rapid growth over the last 40 years from the viewpoint of a firsthand witness. Zheng Xinli was enrolled as a graduate student of economics 40 years ago, at a time when very few Chinese people could enroll in higher-level education, let alone graduate school. Since 1978, he has been engaged in the study of macroeconomic theory and economic policy. He has worked with the economic group of the Research Section of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the State Information Center, and the Policy Research Office of the State Planning Commission, as well as other organizations. His work serves to help Chinese leaders in making economic decisions. In 2013, Zheng Xinli appeared on the list of China’s Top Ten Economists. With the addition of several up-to-date articles, this book is mainly a condensed version of a 16-volume collection of essays selected from among the more-than-500 articles published by Zheng between 1981 and 2016. Addressing some of the major issues in China, namely, Reform and Development, Development Patterns, Macro Regulation, Balanced Urban and Rural Development, Innovation, and Industry Revitalization, the book, as Zheng himself puts it, visualizes the birth process of different policies and measures which have catered to the different stages of reform. As an insider, and also partly as a designer and architect, Zheng Xinli provides readers with a view of China’s reform from the top.


China’s Economic Reform and Development during the 13th Five-Year Plan Period

China’s Economic Reform and Development during the 13th Five-Year Plan Period

Author: Gang Lin

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2020-09-23

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1351611127

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"Five-Year Plans" have been a cornerstone of Chinese social and economic development initiatives since 1953. During the thirteenth of these periods between 2016 and 2020, the global economy has experienced instability after the financial crisis, as well as political and economic reconfiguration. Drawing on modern economic theory, this book comprehensively discusses China's economic development in this crucial phase. The book analyzes the international economic environment, and asks how China’s continued reform and opening-up can fit with the new era of economic globalization. It also presents the difficulties China faces in such fields as urbanization, the coordination of regional development and urban-rural integration, economic reform, and the reform of factor markets and state-owned enterprises. The book outlines many medium-term development rules along with key characteristics of China's economy, helping international readers fully understand likely future trajectories for the Chinese economy.


Investment Climate Reforms

Investment Climate Reforms

Author: World Bank World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2015-11-02

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1464806292

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Private firms are at the forefront of the development process, providing more than 90 percent of jobs, supplying goods and services, and representing a significant source of tax revenues. Their ability to grow, create jobs, and reduce poverty depends critically on a well-functioning investment climate--defined as the policy, legal, and institutional arrangements underpinning the functioning of markets and the level of transaction costs and risks associated with starting, operating, and closing a business. The World Bank Group has provided extensive support to investment climate reforms. This evaluation by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) assesses the relevance, effectiveness, and social value of World Bank Group support to investment climate reforms as it relates to concerns for inclusion and shared prosperity. IEG finds that the World Bank Group has supported a comprehensive menu of investment climate reforms and has improved investment climate in countries, as measured by number of laws enacted, streamlining of processes and time, or simple cost savings for private firms. However, the impact on investment, jobs, business formation, and growth is not straightforward. Regulatory reforms need to be designed and implemented with both economic and social costs and benefits in mind; IEG found that, in practice, World Bank Group support focuses predominantly on reducing costs to businesses. In supporting investment climate reforms, the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation use two distinct but complementary business models. Despite the fact that investment climate is the most integrated business unit in the World Bank Group, coordination is mostly informal, relying mainly on personal contacts. IEG recommends that the World Bank Group expand its range of diagnostic tools and integrate them in the areas of the business environment not yet covered by existing tools; develop an approach to identify the social effects of regulatory reforms on all groups expected to be affected by them beyond the business community; and exploit synergies by ensuring that World Bank and IFC staff improve their understanding of each other's work and business models.


Improving the Performance of Construction Industries for Developing Countries

Improving the Performance of Construction Industries for Developing Countries

Author: Pantaleo D. Rwelamila

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-12-22

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 100028865X

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This book documents the experiences, development, and prospects of the construction industry in numerous developing countries. It will provide a strong base of reference for countries looking to improve their construction industries as part of their wider economic development programme. The opening chapter presents a strategic overview of the contents of the book, and each country-specific chapter is structured to consider the legal and policy frameworks, administrative infrastructure and procedures, and implementation mechanisms, as well as the experiences, current activities, and future plans and programmes with respect to construction industry development in each country. The concluding chapter looks forward and considers the implications of future trends for the construction industries in developing countries and the actions which will be required to address them. Chapters cover: India, Singapore, Chile, South Africa, Tanzania, Malaysia, Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, Indonesia, China, Croatia, and Eswatini. Readers will learn about the wealth of comparable stories from global coverage from the detailed country-specific cases. Building on important scholarly works in the field, this book is essential reading for academics, researchers, and policy makers in built environments, economics, construction management, infrastructure management, and the wider construction industry.


China's Economic Reform

China's Economic Reform

Author: Robert Ash

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-18

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 1134547072

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This book presents a collection and analysis of original policy documents, newly translated into English, from a key period of Chinese development, providing both a current and a retrospective analysis of China's economic reform efforts. Topics dealt with include the evolution of Chinese economic strategy; economic planning and the spread of market mechanisms; technology transfer in industry; evolution of an agricultural system; the development of population policy; and foreign economic relations. The collection will be of great interest not only to scholars and students of Chinese studies, but also to professionals and social scientists concerned with China but unable to read source documents in Chinese.


Reform in China

Reform in China

Author: B.L. Reynolds

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-07-08

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1315493365

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This work includes every Supreme Court case relevant to gender and sexual equality from 1787 to the end of the 1999/2000 term. It is a primary document reference book, organized in eight chapters, including civil and social rights and duties; morality and sexual ethics; and education policies.


Chinese Economic Reform

Chinese Economic Reform

Author: Bruce L. Reynolds

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2014-05-10

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 1483277186

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Chinese Economic Reform: How Far, How Fast? focuses on China's economic reform and tackles topics ranging from the reformed price system and the macroeconomic mechanism to the dual pricing system in industry. The rapid growth in money income and government deficit is also examined, along with the relationship between price level, money supply, and GNP. Agricultural reform and the shortcomings of China's banking system as a tool for monetary control are considered as well. Comprised of 17 chapters, this book begins with an analysis of the impact of the two-tier plan/market system on the Chinese industry, followed by a discussion on the dual pricing system in the industry and money and price level determination in China. The reader is then introduced to China's macroeconomic policy and how it has been influenced by the reform process; money and the consumption goods market; and issues in the structural reform of agriculture. Subsequent chapters focus on the banking system; economic policy and income distribution; trade, employment, and inequality in post-reform China; and the stock-share system as an avenue for reforming the Chinese economy. Economic liberalization in China is also compared with that in India. This monograph will be of interest to economists and economic policymakers.


The Impact of China's Economic Reforms Upon Land, Property and Construction

The Impact of China's Economic Reforms Upon Land, Property and Construction

Author: Jean Jinghan Chen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-04-12

Total Pages: 165

ISBN-13: 0429798628

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First published in 1999, this volume aims to explore the impact of China’s recent economic reforms and dynamic economic progress on land use, the property market and construction activity under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping until his death in 1997. Following the famine and bloody mayhem of Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping took on the task of piecing the country back together to once more become a leading world economy. Here, Jean Jinghan Chen and David Wills concentrate on his reforms and progress, examining at what point power can be said to have passed from Deng Xiaoping to Jiang Zemin, to what extent Deng’s political philosophy remained in place under the new government and what this means for China’s economic reforms on land, property and construction. The authors provide a view on how management of the physical environment needs to be considered in the context of economic progress to achieve sustainable development.