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

by Barry Naughton

• ISBN13: 9780521574624
• ISBN10: 0521574625
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-09-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Growing Out of the Plan is a comprehensive study of China's economic reforms, from their beginnings at the end of 1978 through the completion of many of the initial reform measures during 1993. The book focuses on industry and macroeconomic policy, using these to describe reform strategy in its entirety. In addition to being a thorough and reliable guide to the specifics of Chinese economic reform, the book highlights the distinctive features of Chinese reforms that differentiate them from those in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The author argues that the success of the reforms is not the result of carefully plotted strategy, although in hindsight the reforms seem to have added up to a coherent package. Perhaps most important in its connotations for other changing economies, the Chinese experience shows that gradual change of a command economy is feasible.

Table of Contents

Preface	x
Introductory	1	(56)
Introduction: China's economic reform in comparative perspective	3	(23)
The story and problem of economic reform	5	(2)
The distinctiveness of China's economic reform	7	(6)
Three models of reform	13	(1)
European rationalizing reform	13	(3)
Big bang reforms	16	(2)
China and Eastern Europe	18	(2)
Success and failure	20	(4)
Synopsis of the book	24	(2)
The command economy and the China difference	26	(31)
The command economy	26	(7)
The problem of reform	33	(5)
China in particular: The pre-reform economic system	38	(8)
Evaluation of the economic system in China	46	(5)
Performance and prospects of the Chinese economy	51	(6)
Phase one: The bird in the cage, 1979--1983	57	(114)
Crisis and response: Initial reorientation of the economy	59	(38)
Why did China initiate a program of economic reform?	60	(4)
Recovering from the Cultural Revolution: The twin stands of policy	64	(10)
The turning point: The Third Plenum	74	(2)
The reorientation of development strategy	76	(4)
Implementing economic reorientation	80	(12)
Macroeconomic slack	92	(2)
Conclusion	94	(3)
State sector reforms, 1979--1983	97	(40)
First stirrings of reform	98	(1)
Expanding enterprise autonomy	99	(10)
Combining plan and market	109	(10)
Retrenchment of reforms	119	(8)
Distorted implementation: The failure of rationalization	127	(4)
Making the best of it: Institution building, 1982--83	131	(4)
Conclusion	135	(2)
Growth of the non-state sector	137	(34)
Agricultural reform	138	(4)
Rapid growth of household saving	142	(2)
Rural enterprises	144	(5)
Causes of rapid growth of rural industry	149	(9)
Rural output structure: Three case studies	158	(3)
Contention over rural industry	161	(2)
Non-state industry and the national industrial economy	163	(5)
Conclusion	168	(3)
Phase two: Reforms take off, 1984--1988	171	(100)
Reformulation and debate: The turning point of 1984	173	(27)
From pessimism to optimism	174	(2)
Zhao Ziyang's initiatives: What model of reform?	176	(11)
Debates on reform strategy	187	(12)
Conclusion	199	(1)
The second phase of reform, 1984--1988	200	(44)
The reform package	201	(3)
Enterprise reforms	204	(1)
Managerial reform	205	(2)
Labor reforms	207	(5)
Financial reforms	212	(8)
The dual-track system in practice	220	(7)
Evaluation of second-stage reforms	227	(16)
Conclusion	243	(1)
Rapid growth and macroeconomic imbalance	244	(27)
Rapid growth and structural change	245	(2)
Inflation	247	(6)
Monetary and credit policy	253	(6)
The state budget and the investment plan	259	(6)
The difficulty of contractionary policies	265	(3)
The crisis of 1988	268	(3)
Phase three: To a market economy	271	(56)
The post-Tiananmen cycle of retrenchment and renewed reform	273	(36)
The last stand of the economic conservatives	274	(5)
Outcome of the conservative policies	279	(5)
The problem of state enterprises	284	(4)
The pendulum swings: New reform momentum	288	(1)
Marketization	289	(2)
Tax reform and the level playing field	291	(3)
Enterprise reform	294	(7)
The reform package of late 1993	301	(3)
The end of an era of economic reform	304	(5)
Conclusion: Lessons and limitations of the Chinese reform	309	(18)
Main lessons of the Chinese experience	311	(9)
Ambiguities and shortcomings	320	(5)
The future of Chinese economic reforms	325	(2)
Statistical appendix	327	(14)
Notes	341	(8)
Bibliography	349	(20)
Index	369