The Disinterested Government: An Interpretation of China’s Economic Success in the Reform Era

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractIn the last 30 years, China has achieved high economic growth and successfully transformed its economy from a planned economy to a market-based system. The country, to a large extent, has attained success through the recommendations proposed by standard economic theory. However, the role of political economy has been omitted from the literature: how did China adopt the right economic policies and the appropriate road to reform? This paper attempts to answer this question. The central assumption of the paper is that China achieved success because the Chinese government has been a disinterested party, i.e., a government that does not favour any particular sections of the population and prioritizes the long-term welfare of the whole society. In this paper, we first define and analyse the concept of disinterested governments, and then proceed to provide several examples to demonstrate that China has been characterized by a disinterested government. Based on a theoretical model, we also discuss the reasons of the Chinese government becoming a disinterested government.

China's Disinterested Government and the Rule of Law

“…The first impetus for reform came from the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee Congress in December 1978, when Deng Xiaoping announced the 'reform and opening' to the outside world. As Peking University professor Yang Yao noted, 'China's annual average growth rate of 9.7% must necessarily lead a reasonable commentator to the conclusion that China's development has been an unparalleled story of success' (Yao 2008). But while the facts of the nation's economic blossoming speak for themselves, the mechanisms by which it has been achieved continue to puzzle scholars across a range of disciplines.…”

The Role of Lifelong Learning in Political Stability and Non-Violence: Evidence from Africa

“…The strategies are mostly drawn from: East Asia & the Pacific (Lee, 2013;Warr, 2013;Jomo & Wee, 2013;Thoburn, 2013;Khan, 2013); the emerging Asian giants of China & India (Yao, 2013;Singh, 2013;Santos-Paulino, 2013); Latin America & the Caribbean (De Mello, 2013;Solimano, 2013;Pozo et al, 2013;Trejos, 2013;Cardoso, 2013); the Middle East & North Africa (Looney, 2013;Nyarko, 2013b; Consistent with Akinwale (2010, p. 125 Volkema and Bergmann (1995), Black (1990), Borg (1992), and Thomas (1992).…”

Sino-African Relations: Some Solutions and Strategies to the Policy Syndromes

“…The Moyo synthesis has been partially confirmed by Lalountas et al (2011) and Asongu (2014b) in developing and African countries respectively. This Moyo conjecture is also an extension of reforms in China (Santos-Paulino, 2013;Yao, 2013) and Ghana (Fosu, 2013b) based on the 'Washington-Consensus' and the dynamic orthodoxheterodox strategies in Vietnam (Thoburn, 2013) and Malaysia (Jomo and Wee, 2013) and other East Asian countries (Khan, 2013).…”

“…These include, inter alia: Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam, and Thailand in East Asia and the Pacific (Khan, 2013;Lee, 2013;Warr, 2013;Jomo and Wee, 2013;Thoburn, 2013); the burgeoning Asian giants of India and China (Singh, 2013;Santos-Paulino, 2013;Yao, 2013;Asongu and Aminkeng, 2013); Latin America and the Caribbean with some emphasis on Costa Rica, Brazil, the 2 The interested reader can confirm this position by referring to, inter alia: Alves (2006), Gaye (2006), Schiere and Walkenhorst (2010) , Jenkins and Edwards, (2006), Moreira (2007), Brenton and Walkenhorst (2010), Guerroro and Manji (2008), Chemingui and Bchir (2010), Schiere (2010), Sanfilippo (2010), Wu and Cheng (2010), Kitissou (2007), Wei and Wang (2009), Lall et al (2005), Biggeri andSanfilippo (2009), Muneko andKoyi (2008), Wang and Zheng (2010), Ji (2010), Wang and Zheng (2012), Wei (2007), Duclos (2011), Mawdsley (2008, Zhu (2010), De Grauwe et al (2012, Klaplinsky and Messner (2008), Renard (2011), Lin andFarrell (2013), Drogendijk and Blomkvist (2013), Wei (2013), …”