- Deng’s Economic Philosophy
- “It does not matter whether a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice”
- Practicality and pragmatism over dogma¨
- Deng wanted to restore the market as the chief mechanism of the Chinese economy
- “socialism with Chinese characteristics” (though not much socialism was enacted)
- ¨Some of his specific economic goals included
- Invigorate domestic economy
- Open trade with the outside world
- Allow individual enterprise
- Encourage joint ventures with Chinese and foreign capita
- ¨1979: Hua’s Ten Year Plan was scrapped¨Two periods of reforms¤1979-84: Agriculture was the focus¤1984 onwards: Industry and commerce¨Means of reform: The Four Modernizations¤Agriculture¤Industry¤Science and Technology¤Military
¨80%
of China’s population was based in the countryside, thus agriculture had to be
the first to be reformed
¨Decollectivization:
Communes were criticized and abolished and replaces with xiang, or
villages
¤Not
for ideological reasons, but because of the need for higher production levels
to finance industrialization
¨The
state lowered the amount of produce it appropriated and paid higher prices for
it
¨Families
leased plots of land and had a quota to fill, but could use the rest for
private profit (1980)
¤Known
as the Household Responsibility System
Successes
¨By
1984, 98% of farms were in the Responsibility System (some were forced)
¨Agricultural
output grew by annual average of 9%
¨Some
farmers motivated to start small scale enterprises-rural industries grow
(Township and Village enterprises)
¨Per
capita income doubled from 1978 to 1984
¨Living
conditions improved, higher consumerism resulted
¨Rise
in entrepreneurship caused cities to begin to thrive again
Less Successful results
Less Successful results
¨Uncertainty about land ownership deterred peasants from doing much to develop their land with an eye towards long term growth
¨Unsustainable
agricultural production rate
¤Large
drop in 1985
¨Environmental
problems-deforestation, flooding
¨Demise
of commune-based social services
¨Wage
laborers hired by successful farmers were often poor
¨Class
divisions began to re-emerge
nSpecialized
households vs. ordinary peasants
nCorruption
among the Party cadres
nDeng’s
pragmatic take: “some must get rich first”
Industry
¨Success
in agriculture allowed the focus to switch to the industrial sector in the mid
1980s
¨Individual
enterprises were encouraged
¨Heavy
industry was the focus (coal, iron, oil, steel) although production of consumer
goods also increased
¨Foreign
trade and investment was also encouraged
¨Phases
of Industrial Reform
¤1978-84
nImprove
worker attitude
nIndustrial
Responsibility System enacted
nSichuan Experiment
¤1984
onwards
nLoosened
government control
nGave
managers autonomy to improve production
nPrice
controls on consumer goods lifted