An Essay on Economic Reforms and Social Change in China

An Essay on Economic Reforms and Social Change in China PDF

Author: Assar Lindbeck

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 98

ISBN-13:

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Abstract: The author applies a systems-oriented "holistic" approach to China's radical economic reforms during the past quarter of a century. He characterizes China's economic reforms in terms of a multidimensional classification of economic systems. When looking at the economic consequences of China's change of economic system, he deals with both the impressive growth performance and its economic costs. The author also studies the consequences of the economic reforms for the previous social arrangements in the country, which were tied to individual work units-agriculture communes, collective firms, and state-owned enterprises. He continues with the social development during the reform period, reflecting a complex mix of social advances, mainly in terms of poverty reduction, and regresses for large population groups in terms of income security and human services, such as education and, in particular, health care. Next, the author discusses China's future policy options in the social field, whereby he draws heavily on relevant experiences in industrial countries over the years. The future options are classified into three broad categories: policies influencing the level and distribution of factor income, income transfers including social insurance, and the provision of human services.

An Essay on Economic Reforms and Social Change in China

An Essay on Economic Reforms and Social Change in China PDF

Author: Assar Lindbeck

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages:

ISBN-13:

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The author applies a systems-oriented "holistic" approach to China's radical economic reforms during the past quarter of a century. He characterizes China's economic reforms in terms of a multidimensional classification of economic systems. When looking at the economic consequences of China's change of economic system, he deals with both the impressive growth performance and its economic costs. The author also studies the consequences of the economic reforms for the previous social arrangements in the country, which were tied to individual work units-agriculture communes, collective firms, and state-owned enterprises. He continues with the social development during the reform period, reflecting a complex mix of social advances, mainly in terms of poverty reduction, and regresses for large population groups in terms of income security and human services, such as education and, in particular, health care. Next, the author discusses China's future policy options in the social field, whereby he draws heavily on relevant experiences in industrial countries over the years. The future options are classified into three broad categories: policies influencing the level and distribution of factor income, income transfers including social insurance, and the provision of human services.

Economic Reform and Social Change in China

Economic Reform and Social Change in China PDF

Author: Andrew Watson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 113508615X

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Economic growth in China has transformed both politics and society. Old orthodoxies are painfully being eroded in the drive for reform while new social and cultural tensions are coming to light. It has been argued that the cycles of reform and retreat since 1978 which culminated in the Tiananmen Square tragedy were induced by the tensions of the reform process. It is clear that the way in which China handles these issues in the future will have major implications for the next phase of the country's development. The authors of this book analyse how reform has affected major groups in society such as urban workers, rural and urban cadres, the army, intellectuals and private entrepreneurs. They examine the interaction between old attitudes and new needs in such areas as education, policing and social control, rural administration and the status of women. What emerges is a broad insight into China's reform process which looks both at the enormous changes that have come about and at the problems to follow.

Facing the Era of Great Transformation

Facing the Era of Great Transformation PDF

Author: Wu Jinglian

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-03-31

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 9811576912

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​This book collects essays from Chinese economic sage who was the mastermind of the reform and opening and persistent champion of market-driven development. In the essays, he outlines his vision of the systemic reform needed for today's China, from rule of law to completion of the market system and reform of state-owned enterprises. Dr. Wu's thoughts are always of interest, but at this pivotal moment of Chinese economic recalibration, his views will be of more value than ever, to scholars, economists, journalists, and those in civil society.

The Logic of the Market

The Logic of the Market PDF

Author: Weiying Zhang

Publisher: Cato Institute

Published: 2015-01-20

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 193970961X

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The Logic of the Market by Weiying Zhang—considered China’s “leading market liberal”—comprises his most influential essays on economics over the past three decades. First published in China in 2010, this revised edition contains three new essays, which offer those outside China a deeper understanding of the Chinese economy. “Market competition is a really just competition to create value for others... Only through this approach did the Western economy advance over the past 200 years. It is also the reason for China’s economic marvel over the past 30 years,” writes Weiying. Readers will appreciate Weiying’s ability to address both everyday economic issues and the questions that confront a nation’s leaders, not the least a nation seeking to escape mass poverty. The economic reforms and subsequent growth in China may be the most astonishing and hopeful event of our age. Weiying was among the leaders who set China on its path of change. Here he elucidates the pitfalls and the progress of economic reform, celebrating leaders who mixed sustained idealism with judicious compromise. Readers seeking to learn from China’s successes will find much of interest here. Weiying emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurs in the new China. He concludes, “The key for China, as the country with the world’s largest population, to return to being the largest economy lies in allowing the entrepreneurial spirit to develop the potential of the domestic market.” For that to happen, Weiying recommends that China continue to reduce the state-owned economy, lessen government control over the economy, and—over the next 30 years—emphasize political reform to build a constitutional democracy. His thinking is not limited to China. Some of these essays also focus on the global financial crisis—how Keynesian policies can only be effective for the short term and will bring long-term negative consequences. Weiying provides a unique perspective on his country’s market economy, implementation of economic policies, and the potential for Chinese economic development. “I hope that the logic of the market becomes every person’s ideal,” he writes. “That is my reason for writing this book.”

The Chinese State in the Era of Economic Reform

The Chinese State in the Era of Economic Reform PDF

Author: Gordon White

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1991-06-18

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 1349119393

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An assessment of the impact of the post-Mao market-orientated reforms in China on the Chinese state and its relations with economy and society. It investigates the political and social consequences of an economic strategy which aims to introduce markets into a centrally-planned socialist economy.

The Chinese Economic Reforms

The Chinese Economic Reforms PDF

Author: Stephan Feuchtwang

Publisher: London : Croom Helm ; New York : St. Martin's Press

Published: 1983

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13:

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Monograph of essays on economic policy reorientation towards modernization since 1976 in China - discusses the political ideology change, socialism, economic relations and agricultural policy, industrial policy, investment policy, employment policy, trade policy and industrial management reforms (incl. The role of trade unions), and provides comparisons with reforms in Eastern Europe and Japan. References and statistical tables.

Whither China?

Whither China? PDF

Author: Wu Jinglian

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-03-30

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0190223162

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How has China been able to maintain high-speed economic growth during the last thirty-plus years and successfully transform itself from a poor, backward, and developing country to become the world's second-largest economy? What are the challenges that China faces today and how will she deal with them in order to continue moving toward a truly prosperous and modern society? Standing at a crossroads today, what future direction should China choose: a free market economy or state capitalism? In a series of penetrating dialogues, Wu Jinglian, China's most celebrated and influential economist, and Ma Guochuan, chief commentator of Caijing Magazine, attempt to address the following question: "Where is China going?" This volume offers critical insights into the historical evolution of China's ongoing economic and social transformation. Strongly reflecting Professor Wu's views on the future prospects of the economic reforms, the book provides readers with a deep and lucid understanding of the social and economic issues now confronting China, analyzes their underlying causes, and examines the serious challenges to implementing further reforms. Professor Wu argues that the only way to escape the various social ills in China today is to restart the economic and political reforms, which began thirty years ago but have slowed down during the recent decade, and to move China in the direction of a market economy, the rule of law, and democracy.

Narratives Of Chinese Economic Reforms: How Does China Cross The River?

Narratives Of Chinese Economic Reforms: How Does China Cross The River? PDF

Author: Xiaobo Zhang

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2010-06-04

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 9814465879

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Rapid growth in the Chinese economy over the past three decades poses puzzles and challenges to neo-classical economic theory, as policies implemented during the reform process were often unorthodox. Although the Chinese experience has been widely studied, myths and questions about these reforms remain. To fill in the knowledge gap, and to inform a process of learning from China's development successes, this book features a series of case studies on the policy process of different initiatives, including rural industrialization, dual-track price reform, migration policy, village elections and fiscal reform. Uniquely, many of the authors of the case studies were deeply involved in these reforms, either through direct policymaking or through providing analytical and technical support that led to these policy changes. They provide a first-hand account of how the political processes occurred, how social and political entrepreneurs shaped the choices and sequences of various reforms, and how the rigidities and sometimes erroneous beliefs were overcome.

China's Transition from Socialism

China's Transition from Socialism PDF

Author: Dorothy J. Solinger

Publisher: M.E. Sharpe

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9781563240683

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The essays in this volume address the industrial, commercial, urban and regional reforms of China's planned economy during the 1980s. The emphasis is on the dominating institutional and bureaucratic presence of the state even as it sought to loosen the pre-1979 vertically structured centralised command system and to introduce some market principles to stimulate economic activity. The essays fall into four categories: theoretical and policy discussions and debates at the central leadership level; reform of the urban economy and of inter-regional relations; industrial and commercial reforms; and the rise and position of the new entrepreneurial class. Many of the essays draw on interviews with Chinese economic officials in the Central China city of Wuhan and therefore this is the only study that uses local data on actual operations of reforms from a Chinese city; the other sources are the Chinese press and Chinese official and scholarly journals. In each of the categories there are pieces from different points in the chronological process of reform. This study begins with the first theoretical discussions among China's economists and top political leaders in the late 1970s and concludes with experiments with bankruptcy and stock markets in the late 1980s. The countervailing heavy presence of the state at both the policy and the practical levels throughout the reform decade is its unifying theme.