How China Escaped the Poverty Trap

345 Pages·2016·3.88 MB·English

by  Yuen Yuen Ang

HOW CHINA ESCAPED
THE POVERTY TRAP
a volume in the series
Cornell Studies in Political Economy
Edited by Peter J. Katzenstein
A list of titles in this series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.
HOW CHINA
ESCAPED THE
POVERTY TRAP
Yuen Yuen Ang
CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON
Cornell University Press gratefully acknowledges receipt of a subvention from
the University of Michigan Office of Research and the Department of Political
Science, University of Michigan, which aided in the publication of this book.
Copyright © 2016 by Cornell University
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts
thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from
the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House,
512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.
First published 2016 by Cornell University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ang, Yuen Yuen, 1979– author.
Title: How China escaped the poverty trap / Yuen Yuen Ang.
Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2016. | Series: Cornell studies in
political economy | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016014018 | ISBN 9781501700200 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: China—Economic conditions—1976–2000. | China—Economic
conditions—2000– | China—Economic policy—1976–2000. | China—
Economic policy—2000– | Developing countries—Economic policy. |
Developing countries—Social policy. | Economic development—China. |
Economic development—Developing countries. | Poverty—China. |
Poverty—Developing countries.
Classification: LCC HC427.92 .A74 2016 | DDC 338.951—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016014018
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Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
All photos are by the author.
Cover photograph: Children investigate a new highway in Liannan County,
Guangdong Province, 1982.
Photograph by An Ge, image copyright © FOTOE.
Cover design: David Rotstein.
For Chia
Every act of creation is first an act of destruction.
— Pablo Picasso
Contents
List of Figures and Tables ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: How Did Development A ctually Happen? 1
Part 1 FRAMEWORK AND BUILDING BLOCKS
1. Mapping Coevolution 23
2. Directed Improvisation 48
Part 2 DIRECTION
3. Balancing Variety and Uniformity 73
4. Franchising the Bureaucracy 103
Part 3 IMPROVISATION
5. From Building to Preserving Markets 141
6. Connecting First Movers and Laggards 184
Conclusion: How Development Actually Happened
beyond China 222
Appendix A: Steps for Mapping Coevolution 251
Appendix B: Interviews 259
Notes 267
References 297
Index 315

Figures and Tables
Figures
1.1 Economic growth and investment promotion
in Upstart County 35
1.2 Two competing linear paths of development 38
1.3 Coevolution of economy and bureaucracy
in Glorious County 38
2.1 Meta-institutions that shape adaptive processes in China 67
3.1 Three approaches to reform 76
3.2 Post-1994 fiscal cliff of local governments 86
3.3 Change in industrial collective enterprises, 1980–2000 98
3.4 Change in number of private enterprises, 1980–2005 99
4.1 Formal organizational chart of a city government 107
4.2 Three layers of bureaucratic actors 108
4.3 Formal civil service wages vs. average rural
and urban income 126
4.4 Coevolution of economy and bureaucratic
compensation practices 128
4.5 Formal wages vs. supplemental compensation, 1979–2005 133
5.1 Coevolution of property rights and markets in Forest Hill 154
5.2 Forest Hill’s economic statistics, 1978–2010 160
5.3 Trend of unauthorized fee collection in education 165
5.4 Coevolution of development strategies and
markets in Forest Hill 168
5.5 Change in industrial composition, 1987–2009 179
6.1 Fiscal growth in Blessed County vs. Humble County 188
6.2 Location of Fujian, Zhejiang, and Hubei Provinces 189
6.3 Coevolution of development strategies and
markets in Blessed County 200
ix