The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth, Massachusettes Institute of Technology Press, 2007.

Barry Naughton's "The Chinese Economy: Transitions and Growth" provides a very extensive, in-depth examination of the transition process in the Chinese economy as well as an excellent historical base from which the recent reform process was launched.

Naughton has a proven record of scholarly, informative research on China, as evident in the discussion of a broad range of topics related to China's performance, including of course demographic, environmental, and trade challenges; however, there is a rather lean treatment of the currency valuation issue and other sources of tension in the Sino-American trade relationship. It might be noted too that performance is somewhat ambiguously viewed by alternating between PPP-adjusted and unadjusted GDP.

The speed of the transition in China's economy can leave the statistical support a bit dated, so the reader has to be cautious before quoting the numbers. Overall, though, Naughton's work is a reliable text for understanding China and China's phenomenal growth record.