Growing Out of the Plan: Chinese Economic Reform, 1978–1993

Cover......Page 1
Frontmatter......Page 2
Contents......Page 6
Tables and figures......Page 9
Preface......Page 11
Introductory......Page 14
Introduction: China\'s economic reform in comparative perspective......Page 16
The story and problem of economic reform......Page 18
The distinctiveness of China\'s economic reform......Page 20
European rationalizing reform......Page 26
Big bang reforms......Page 29
China and Eastern Europe......Page 31
Success and failure......Page 33
Synopsis of the book......Page 37
The command economy......Page 39
The problem of reform......Page 46
China in particular: The pre-reform economic system......Page 51
Evaluation of the economic system in China......Page 59
Performance and prospects of the Chinese economy......Page 64
Phase one - The bird in the cage, 1979--1983......Page 70
2 - Crisis and response: Initial reorientation of the economy......Page 72
Why did China initiate a program of economic reform?......Page 73
Recovering from the Cultural Revolution: The twin strands of policy......Page 77
The turning point: The Third Plenum......Page 87
The reorientation of development strategy......Page 89
Implementing economic reorientation......Page 93
Macroeconomic slack......Page 105
Conclusion......Page 107
3 - State sector reforms, 1979--1983......Page 110
First stirrings of reform......Page 111
Expanding enterprise autonomy......Page 112
Combining plan and market......Page 122
Retrenchment of reforms......Page 132
Distorted implementation: The failure of rationalization......Page 140
Making the best of it: Institution building, 1982--83......Page 144
Conclusion......Page 148
4 - Growth of the non-state sector......Page 150
Agricultural reform......Page 151
Rapid growth of household saving......Page 155
Rural enterprises......Page 157
Causes of rapid growth of rural industry......Page 162
Rural output structure: Three case studies......Page 171
Contention over rural industry......Page 174
Non-state industry and the national industrial economy......Page 176
Conclusion......Page 181
Phase two - Reforms take off, 1984--1988......Page 184
5 - Reformulation and debate: The turning point of 1984......Page 186
From pessimism to optimism......Page 187
Zhao Ziyang\'s initiatives: What model of reform?......Page 189
Debates on reform strategy......Page 200
Conclusion......Page 212
6 - The second phase of reform, 1984--1988......Page 213
The reform package......Page 214
Enterprise reforms......Page 217
Managerial reform......Page 218
Labor reforms......Page 220
Financial reforms......Page 225
The dual-track system in practice......Page 233
Evaluation of second-stage reforms......Page 240
Conclusion......Page 256
7 - Rapid growth and macroeconomic imbalance......Page 257
Rapid growth and structural change......Page 258
Inflation......Page 260
Monetary and credit policy......Page 266
The state budget and the investment plan......Page 272
The difficulty of contractionary policies......Page 278
The crisis of 1988......Page 281
Phase three - To a market economy......Page 284
8 - The post-Tiananmen cycle of retrenchment and renewed reform......Page 286
The last stand of the economic conservatives......Page 287
Outcome of the conservative policies......Page 292
The problem of state enterprises......Page 297
The pendulum swings: New reform momentum......Page 301
Marketization......Page 302
Tax reform and the level playing field......Page 304
Enterprise reform......Page 307
The reform package of late 1993......Page 314
The end of an era of economic reform......Page 317
9 - Conclusion: Lessons and limitations of the Chinese reform......Page 322
Main lessons of the Chinese experience......Page 324
Ambiguities and shortcomings......Page 333
The future of Chinese economic reforms......Page 338
Statistical appendix......Page 340
Notes......Page 354
Bibliography......Page 362
Index......Page 382