China's Economy

Ryan Sullivan

Jeannette Mena

MSC 310, Sec. 102

21 May 2008

Module #3

Chinas economy has been in the spotlight of the media for quite some time now, and for good reason. China has moved quickly from a centrally planned economy to a market economy since the 1970s. Today, China has the fourth largest economy in the world and the move from a centrally planned economy to a market oriented one can take the majority of the credit. Chinas economy is not only large, but growing at an extremely fast rate. It’s growing at more than double the rate of the U.S. at 9.5%. A rapidly growing economy can only mean good things for foreign investors like International Truck & Engine.

Another important factor in determining the health of Chinas economy is GDP. Chinas GDP is currently at $7.043 trillion, second only to the United States. Clearly, this is another positive reinforce for investment by International Truck & Engine.

A nation’s future is held by its youth and promoted by its education system, and Chinas education system is strong and improving. While only Peking University, Hong Kong University and Tsinghua University regularly place in lists of the top 40 schools in the world, more are on their way up. Also, Chinas literacy rate is a decent 90.9%

The geography of China helps it economically in a number of ways. Because of China’s enormous size, there are a number of different climates. For International Truck & Engine, having multiple climates will give them a market for all types of their products. Another obvious observation is the fact that a large portion of Chinas cities are on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, allowing for a greater variety of shipping options.

Lastly, Chinas infrastructure, while