More realistic on China's model
Tuesday, December 23, 2008 at 2:43AM OP-ED: "The Lessons From 30 Years of Chinese Reform," by Hugo Restall, Wall Street Journal, 16 December 2008.
Basic gist: China really lowered its state-sector share of GDP dramatically under Deng and his immediate successors, going from 100% to about 11% during the wide-open 1990s. Since then the state-sector share creeps back up to about 20%, putting it on par with the U.S., whose own share is inching back up to 25%. China's is likely to grow some too in the next few years.
Some already call this "socialism" and a bunch of other hyperbolically stupid terms, claiming we're moving in the direction of China.
Point of this piece: China is heading as much toward Europe's big-firm capitalism (or more) than it is heading toward our more entrepreneurial flavor, so go easy on the fantastic projections of economic growth extending ad nauseum into the future.
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