China's economic performance is a subject of heated debate. Admirers see in China a country which has been growing at double digits and has lifted 500 million people out of poverty. They talk about a new growth model built around the "Beijing Consensus" which stresses the role of the state in directing resources. Critics see a repressed financial system that encourages wasteful public expenditures and exacerbates global trade imbalances. So they argue that the "Washington Consensus", which favors a more market-oriented model, remains the preferred option.

Which of the two is closer to the truth? Neither. But there is a way to interpret China's development that sheds some light on its economic approach. That model is the one used by multilateral development agencies, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

The World Bank aims to accelerate growth in developing countries, motivated by the conviction that the huge income disparities between high-income and emerging market countries are untenable. Not only do these disparities foster economic and trade tensions, but also political frictions emanate from civil strife and migration driven by despair as much as opportunity.