Rapidly expanding virtual goods markets and virtual economy are thriving worldwide in general, and in China in particular. This paper reviews the growth of virtual goods markets in China and builds a historical narrative of the rapidly changing (or dynamic) and persistently unchanged (or relatively static) aspects of reality in China that condition virtuality and virtual goods markets. The review and historical analysis provide a perspective of a larger place -a total reality -where the virtuality and virtual goods markets exist, along with the physical aspects, and suggest that virtual goods marketers need to pay more attention to China's unique environmental context when designing marketing strategy.

This article develops theory and examines relationships among reforms in government regulation of business, competitiveness, and national economic development in term of GDP per capita. The findings shed light on the ongoing debate of supporting versus refuting reducing/eliminating government regulations of business. Applying Campbell’s (1968, 1969) seminal contributions in examining the impact of reforms as quasi-experiments and Mill’s (1872/1973) method of differences, the study shows that the reforms in reductions and eliminations of government regulations of business help to increase national economic growth the lagged impact (e.g., 2, 3 years after introduction of reforms) should be expected. Also, medium-to-large reductions in the ranking of government regulations of business (increase in competitiveness) associate with increases in GDP per capita in comparison to a large increase in the ranking (decrease in competitiveness). The results also provide insights into the different regulatory environments (i.e., high vs. low government corruption and media-freedom vs. highly ethical behavior and lack of media-freedom) may condition the impact of the reforms.