This excellent piece on the history and sources of US economic development and growth should be more widely read, especially in Washington. One thing that stands out, contrary to much public perception that sees US success as the inevitable consequence...
academic.oup.com/past/advance-a…
academic.oup.com/past/advance-a…
...of its free-market orientation, is the crucial role of a strong and interventionist state sector that “harnessed, managed and manipulated markets”, rather than simply establish them and let them operate freely.
They “cajoled, nudged and pushed private interests in...
They “cajoled, nudged and pushed private interests in...
...economically desired directions by tying ‘carrots’ — subsidies, protection and incentives – to the ‘discipline’ of demands such as moving investment towards industrial development and technological upgrading, which capitalists, despite their much inflated reputation as...
...‘risk-takers’, did only reluctantly.”
This is probably true by the way of most or all rapidly developing economies, including of course China in the past 3-4 decades, but here is where they part ways. The state sector in the US was never monolithic, and was always subject...
This is probably true by the way of most or all rapidly developing economies, including of course China in the past 3-4 decades, but here is where they part ways. The state sector in the US was never monolithic, and was always subject...
...to pressure from powerful independent institutions and to major shifts between local and central power and from group to group. US institutions, including political institutions, were constantly involved in a very messy adjustment process as rapid development created new...
...conditions which made increasingly obsolete the very institutions that had led to this rapid development.
This seems briefly to have been the case in China too, during the 1990s and early 2000s, but at some point in the few years after the 2008 Olympics, it seems that...
This seems briefly to have been the case in China too, during the 1990s and early 2000s, but at some point in the few years after the 2008 Olympics, it seems that...
...Beijing turned against tolerating this messy adjustment process. We'll see what comes next. If messy institutional adjustment is a necessary condition for continued growth, as I expect it is, we’ll need to see a lot more political toleration of the adjustment process in...
...China.
None of this is new, of course, to readers of the brilliant Albert Hirschman. In case anyone is interested, I wrote my own thoughts about what US economic history can tell us about China seven years ago:
carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancial…
None of this is new, of course, to readers of the brilliant Albert Hirschman. In case anyone is interested, I wrote my own thoughts about what US economic history can tell us about China seven years ago:
carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancial…
