Abstracts of papers given at the 25th annual conference of the Scottish legal history group

Modern Legal History. A. H. Manchester. London. 1980. Butterworths. xxv and 419 pp (incl. Index). £14.50 cased, £9.75 limp.

Introduction historique au droit. John Gilissen. Brussels. 1979. Emile Bruylant. 756 pp. 2200 Bfr. (2075 Bfr. abroad).

Legal Evolution: The Story of an Idea. Peter Stein. Cambridge. 1980. Cambridge University Press. xi and 131 pp (incl. Index). £15.00 cased.

Judecata Domneasca în Tara Româneasca ?i Moldova (1611–1831) (Princely Justice in Wallachia and Moldavia, 1611–1831) Part I. Judicial Organisation, 1611–1740 by V. A. Georgescu and P. Strihan. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, Bucharest, 1979, 218 pp. Lei 17.

Bizantul ?i Institutiile Române?ti pîna la Mijlocul Secolului al XVIII lea (Byzantium and Romanian Institutions until the mid‐18th century) by V. A. Georgescu. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Romania, Bucharest, 1979, 296 pp. Lei 22.50.

TUC: The Growth of a Pressure Group 1868–1976. Ross M. Martin. Oxford. 1980. Clarendon Press. xiii and 394 pp (incl. Index). £14.00 cased.     

China's exchange rate and the balance of trade

This paper examines the responsiveness of the balance of trade of the People's Republic of China to the real exchange rate. We find that, in both the short-run and the long-run, devaluation serves to improve the balance of trade. Using quarterly data for 1980:I to 1989:IV we show that the bulk of the response to devaluation occurs over a one year period, with noJ-curve effect. These results suggest that the two-tier price system and other measures to liberalize the Chinese economy have made the exchange rate an effective indirect tool for regulating trade.