Further, if the maximum potential growth rate is related to the distance of the economy from the frontier – as determined by per capita income levels in the most advanced economies – China’s rapid growth can continue well beyond 2030, for even in 2030 according to Maddison’s projections, PPP income per capita in China will be only one quarter that in the United States.
And the fact that the bulk of China’s labor force remains rural, and to a considerable extent agricultural, reinforces the view that China’s Arthur Lewis type growth process could have a long way to run.