Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter One The developmental state
- Chapter Two Post-socialist transformation in China
- Chapter Three The politics of development
- Chapter Four The policies of development
- Chapter Five China as a post-socialist developmental state
- References
- Index
Chapter Four - The policies of development
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 February 2022
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter One The developmental state
- Chapter Two Post-socialist transformation in China
- Chapter Three The politics of development
- Chapter Four The policies of development
- Chapter Five China as a post-socialist developmental state
- References
- Index
Summary
Strategically designed state-level long-term development policies aimed at state transformation so that it can become a developed country within a relatively short period of time are a crucial part of DS characteristics. This chapter focuses on the main group of DS-related policies and establishes to what extent they are also part of China's developmental efforts during the transformation period. Policy selection has been decided upon the policies’ conformity with and importance for the DS model, as featured in the scholarly literature.
The perceptions on industrial policies
Developmental states’ economic modernisation efforts have often been referred to as a process of state-led industrialisation. Indeed, the process of industrialisation and, thus, industrial policy seem to be central elements of the DS, as industrialisation, also seen as a part of the process of the departure from an economic system dominated by rural activities, that is, urbanisation, is the core of historical DS transformation. The literature on industrial policies is rather extensive and detailed.
Ha-Joon Chang (1999a) points out that there is no unambiguous definition of industrial policy (IP) and that the term is often used in reference to too narrow a spectrum of economic activity, namely, state subsidies policy, or too broad a spectrum, namely, any economic activity related to industry. Indeed, Cimoli, Dosi and Stiglitz (2009, pp 1–2) claim that industrial policy:
comprises policies affecting “infant industry” support of various kinds, but also trade policies, science and technology policies, public procurement, policies affecting foreign direct investments, intellectual property rights, and the allocation of financial resources. Industrial policies, in this broad sense, come together with processes of “institutional engineering” shaping the very nature of the economic actors, the market mechanisms and rules under which they operate, and the boundaries between what is governed by market interactions, and what is not.
Rodrik (2007, p 3) sees industrial policies as ‘policies that stimulate specific economic activities and promote structural change, thus, are not [exclusively] about industry per se’. However, for Lindbeck (1981), those policies do not involve monetary and fiscal measures. For Haggard (2004, p 64), industrial policies comprise ‘selective interventions designed to influence the allocation of resources among different activities’.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- China and Post-Socialist Development , pp. 167 - 226Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2014