This report explains the shifts and strains in the 2008 super-ministry government reform, focusing on the reform of government institutions of economic governance. Drawing on interviews with officials and scholars in Beijing after the reform, and on Chinese-language reports and books, this study suggests that the key to substantial progress in remaking the Chinese state into a macroeconomic regulator is the reform of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which was lacking in the 2008 scheme. Its powerful authority for investment endorsement is particularly problematic. A continued administrative malaise in the energy sector and strategically articulated state engagement in industrial development also should be noted as the salient features of China's economic governance.
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Yukyung Yeo (2009) studied this question.