Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics: Entrepreneurship and the State - Hardcover

Huang, Yasheng

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521898102 ISBN 13: 9780521898102

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Presents a story of two Chinas – an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China. In the 1980s, rural China gained the upper hand. In the 1990s, urban China triumphed. In the 1990s, the Chinese state reversed many of its rural experiments, with long-lasting damage to the economy and society. A weak financial sector, income disparity, rising illiteracy, productivity slowdowns, and reduced personal income growth are the product of the capitalism with Chinese characteristics of the 1990s and beyond. While GDP grew quickly in both decades, the welfare implications of growth differed substantially. The book uses the emerging Indian miracle to debunk the widespread notion that democracy is automatically anti-growth. As the country marked its 30th anniversary of reforms in 2008, China faces some of its toughest economic challenges and substantial vulnerabilities that require fundamental institutional reforms.

About this title

Review:

'The development of the Chinese private sector is a key to the future shape and performance of the Chinese economy. At present, the subject is widely misunderstood. This book does more than any other to clarify the issues and point the way forward.' Christopher Howe, School of East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield

'... important book ... If one wants to understand the policy origins of China's growing divide between rich and poor, urban and rural, one need look no further than this book.' William Kirby, Harvard University

'Sure to generate a lively debate, Professor Huang's study provides a provocative and well-researched challenge to much current thinking on China's economic development.' Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale Law School

'... Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics is both immensely informative and enormously provocative.' Charles Wolf, Jr, Pardee RAND Graduate School

'... the scale of the research is impressive, and goes beyond most western commentators other than those with high-level Chinese language skills and access to the primary sources. ... the book is overall an important reminder that the story of China's growth rewards detailed research and is not simply the tale of a gradual deepening of market-led economic reform. ... Huang's tale of the first two decades of China's economic reform is indeed worth bearing in mind when watching the latest developments.' The Business Economist

'... profoundly informative book ...' The Spokesman

'This is among the most important books to appear on contemporary China this decade. Motivated by a socially conscious economic liberalism and guided by a firmly positivist epistemology, Yasheng Huang challenges - and defeats - some of the most sacred myths surrounding the Chinese political economy as reinforced by scholars and widely accepted by the general public. The book is essential reading for any political scientist specializing in China, international relations, comparative economic development, or comparative political change.' Perspectives on Politics

'[Marshals] an impressive array of survey and documentary evidence ... a must-read for China specialists.' The Journal of Asian Studies

Book Description:

Presents a story of two Chinas – an entrepreneurial rural China and a state-controlled urban China. In the 1980s, rural China gained the upper hand. In the 1990s, urban China triumphed. In the 1990s, the Chinese state reversed many of its rural experiments, with long-lasting damage to the economy and society.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521898102
• ISBN 13: 9780521898102
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 366