… is from page xiv of the August 2014 “Preface to the English Edition” (2015) of Weiying Zhang’s superb 2010 book, translated into English by Matthew Dale, The Logic of the Market:
Over the last 10 years [in China], the pace of reform has been obstructed by anti-reform sentiments and policy. Some traditional methods of the planned economy have been resurrected under the name of macroeconomic adjustments and industrial policy. Prices that have been liberalized are now subject to price controls. “Private advance and state retreat” as the mainline of ownership structure has given way to “state advance and private retreat.” For many years, government revenues have far outpaced the growth of the national economy and residential incomes. Government investment has begun to squeeze out private capital. Entrepreneurial fervor to do business has been replaced by a zeal to emigrate.
Perhaps Mr. Zhang here puts his finger on a potential source of the now-being-revealed troubles in China’s economy.
