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Routledge Studies on the Chinese Economy
Como a China escapou da terapia de choque
Primeira obra da economista Isabella Weber, Como a China escapou da terapia de choque é uma análise original e fecunda das reformas econômicas que moldaram o caminho da China ao longo das últimas décadas. Fruto de extensa pesquisa e uma quantidade substantiva de entrevistas, o livro apresenta as ações que permitiram ao país asiático seguir o caminho da reindustrialização gradual e chegar ao século XXI como uma das principais potências mundiais.
Weber busca compreender e explicar ao leitor o sucesso das reformas de mercado na China, enfatizando seu caráter plural, situando as diversas tendências e concepções na longa história do pensamento econômico chinês e ocidental. A autora também envereda pela discussão de longa data a respeito do controle estatal de preços, tanto na milenar história chinesa quanto nas tentativas recentes em outros países, no contexto da Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Com foco na encruzilhada econômica dos anos 1980, a obra apresenta o trajeto econômico chinês a partir da não adesão à "terapia de choque" neoliberal, caminho traçado pelos países da antiga União Soviética. Weber oferece, ainda, uma perspectiva inédita sobre o modelo econômico da China e suas contínuas contestações internas e externas. Resultado disso, Como a China escapou da terapia de choque ganhou dois importantes prêmios em 2021, quando foi lançado nos Estados Unidos, e integrou a lista de melhores livros do ano do Financial Times.
"A China contemporânea está profundamente integrada ao capitalismo global. No entanto, o estonteante crescimento chinês não levou o país à completa convergência institucional com o neoliberalismo. Isso desafia o triunfalismo do pós-Guerra Fria, que previa a 'vitória incondicional do liberalismo econômico e político' em todo o mundo. A era da revolução terminou em 1989. No entanto, isso não resultou na aguardada universalização do modelo econômico 'ocidental'. Acontece que a mercantilização gradual facilitou o crescimento econômico da China sem que isso a levasse à assimilação generalizada. A tensão entre a ascensão da China e essa assimilação parcial define nosso momento atual e encontra suas origens na abordagem das reformas de mercado pela China", conta a autora na introdução da obra.
Weber busca compreender e explicar ao leitor o sucesso das reformas de mercado na China, enfatizando seu caráter plural, situando as diversas tendências e concepções na longa história do pensamento econômico chinês e ocidental. A autora também envereda pela discussão de longa data a respeito do controle estatal de preços, tanto na milenar história chinesa quanto nas tentativas recentes em outros países, no contexto da Segunda Guerra Mundial.
Com foco na encruzilhada econômica dos anos 1980, a obra apresenta o trajeto econômico chinês a partir da não adesão à "terapia de choque" neoliberal, caminho traçado pelos países da antiga União Soviética. Weber oferece, ainda, uma perspectiva inédita sobre o modelo econômico da China e suas contínuas contestações internas e externas. Resultado disso, Como a China escapou da terapia de choque ganhou dois importantes prêmios em 2021, quando foi lançado nos Estados Unidos, e integrou a lista de melhores livros do ano do Financial Times.
"A China contemporânea está profundamente integrada ao capitalismo global. No entanto, o estonteante crescimento chinês não levou o país à completa convergência institucional com o neoliberalismo. Isso desafia o triunfalismo do pós-Guerra Fria, que previa a 'vitória incondicional do liberalismo econômico e político' em todo o mundo. A era da revolução terminou em 1989. No entanto, isso não resultou na aguardada universalização do modelo econômico 'ocidental'. Acontece que a mercantilização gradual facilitou o crescimento econômico da China sem que isso a levasse à assimilação generalizada. A tensão entre a ascensão da China e essa assimilação parcial define nosso momento atual e encontra suas origens na abordagem das reformas de mercado pela China", conta a autora na introdução da obra.
701 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 13, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
May 13, 2025
Dense and technical but very very interesting: above all else, a book about a conflict between a) deriving an economic policy from extreme abstraction, as represented by the neoliberalism brought to China by a combination of Milton Friedman himself, and Eastern European disillusioned Marxists-turned-Friedmanites (for whom the connection between this and the equally perfect, equally stupid abstraction they'd favoured as Stalinists, is pretty obvious), and b) deriving an economic policy from observation of what actually exists, what has actually worked historically, and what the productive forces might actually be able to do in the actual present day. (or, TLDR abstraction is a fun pursuit in art and philosophy but not so clever in running a gigantic economy without throwing millions of people into acute misery). Also intriguing on how the two camps of reformers reacted to the crisis at the end of the 1980s - not always in the way you'd expect.
Another strain illustrates how over the course of the '80s the most influential wing of Chinese reform economists gradually shook off the colonial mentality that whatever western 'science' argued was necessarily the state of the art, and instead sought truth from facts, as someone once said, and as a result, had successes way beyond what they or anyone else could have imagined. It is important to bear in mind this is about two competing ways of introducing capitalism and dismantling a state-socialist system - it doesn't offer nearly as much succour to 'China is still red' people than they appear to think online - but highly worthwhile; and a reminder of the special place in hell reserved for the Eastern European intelligentsia of the 1980s, a group of bored, broadly privileged people who caused untold misery to massive amounts of people, but, through the independence of thinking of their counterparts in China, weren't able to do so here.
Another strain illustrates how over the course of the '80s the most influential wing of Chinese reform economists gradually shook off the colonial mentality that whatever western 'science' argued was necessarily the state of the art, and instead sought truth from facts, as someone once said, and as a result, had successes way beyond what they or anyone else could have imagined. It is important to bear in mind this is about two competing ways of introducing capitalism and dismantling a state-socialist system - it doesn't offer nearly as much succour to 'China is still red' people than they appear to think online - but highly worthwhile; and a reminder of the special place in hell reserved for the Eastern European intelligentsia of the 1980s, a group of bored, broadly privileged people who caused untold misery to massive amounts of people, but, through the independence of thinking of their counterparts in China, weren't able to do so here.
April 13, 2021
An incredibly important contribution to the history of development — it’s basically a story of the evolution of the single most significant (in terms of impact) doctrine and practice of development, namely the Chinese Communist Party’s turn to “reform and opening up.” Weber explains how a new generation of young Chinese elite cadres, who had been sent down to the countryside during the cultural revolution, came from that experience to realize that rather than class struggle, material development was the single most pressing imperative for the country, one rendered impossible by central planning. These young economists unconsciously aided with the neoliberal critique of state socialism being promoted at the same time in the west, while retaining a conscious fealty to Marx against the neoliberal ideal of an unrestrained market economy. The result was an argument in favor of greater use of market mechanisms and price signals for allocating goods, without for a second implying a withdrawal of party or state authority.
August 7, 2025
Essential reading for anyone interested in critical economics, socialist history, and modern China - or indeed all three!
Although the focus - the relationship between reformist economists and the political leadership - is quite narrow, we learn a lot about the ideological atmosphere in China in the 1980s. It's clear that many influential intellectuals and high ranking politicos had essentially abandoned communism by the late 1980s, just like the neoliberals and nationalists that sprung up like mushrooms in Eastern Europe in the years leading up the collapse of European socialism. However, unlike in Europe, Chinese reform was moderated by deep divisions between the reformists themselves, and a continued belief in the moral authority of the CCP by its own leadership.
Shock therapy prescribed a destructive and sudden liberalisation of the planned economy to shatter it apart, allowing a market economy to arise spontaneously in its place. There were strong and persistent arguments in favour of this approach, based on the flawed theoretical assumption that markets naturally arise always and everywhere the distorting influence of the state is withdrawn. These arguments were especially influenced by disillusioned Eastern European economists who had broken with socialism after the failures of their own reform projects in the 1960s and 70s. The usually unspoken but clear subtext of this approach was that the communist monopoly on state power would be shattered along with the planned economy, and that this shattering was a precondition for reform itself.
Despite strong support for this approach among really influential and significant individuals, China drew back at the last minute. At a theoretical level, important reformers realised, through the study of comparable developing economies, that enterprises not equipped to respond to market signals would not suddenly become effective market actors, but bin fires. This is, of course, exactly what ended up happening in Russia. On a practical political level it was the threat (and indeed onset) of social instability and threat to CCP rule which caused China (and Deng Xiaoping specifically) to pull back before it was too late.
Instead of smashing the planned economy at the centre, China adopted policies that acted to freeze the scope of the planned economy, and forced it to grow outwards into the market. By adopting "duel track" state/market pricing systems, gradual reform of enterprises in the direction of autonomy, and zonally limited integration with the world economy, the Chinese economy liberalised at the margins, without breaking at the centre. The result was an island of economic planning situated in an ocean of market activity, the basis of the modern Chinese system.
Although this clearly represented an abandonment the traditional state-socialist model of economic planning, it maintained and modernised the core socialist institutions around the commanding heights of the economy. The result has been the birth of a successful mixed economy in which the state participates through strategically placed publicly owned enterprises and a strong macroeconomic regulatory framework.
Weber, like the Chinese reformists, is more concerned with the facts than how they are described ideologically. However, its hard not read her carefully researched thesis as an implicit argument in favour of contemporary Chinese socialism. Although Weber stops short of saying it outright, the modern Chinese system represents a kind of realisation of the Western European ideal of muscular social democracy which ran aground in the 1970s.
Although the focus - the relationship between reformist economists and the political leadership - is quite narrow, we learn a lot about the ideological atmosphere in China in the 1980s. It's clear that many influential intellectuals and high ranking politicos had essentially abandoned communism by the late 1980s, just like the neoliberals and nationalists that sprung up like mushrooms in Eastern Europe in the years leading up the collapse of European socialism. However, unlike in Europe, Chinese reform was moderated by deep divisions between the reformists themselves, and a continued belief in the moral authority of the CCP by its own leadership.
Shock therapy prescribed a destructive and sudden liberalisation of the planned economy to shatter it apart, allowing a market economy to arise spontaneously in its place. There were strong and persistent arguments in favour of this approach, based on the flawed theoretical assumption that markets naturally arise always and everywhere the distorting influence of the state is withdrawn. These arguments were especially influenced by disillusioned Eastern European economists who had broken with socialism after the failures of their own reform projects in the 1960s and 70s. The usually unspoken but clear subtext of this approach was that the communist monopoly on state power would be shattered along with the planned economy, and that this shattering was a precondition for reform itself.
Despite strong support for this approach among really influential and significant individuals, China drew back at the last minute. At a theoretical level, important reformers realised, through the study of comparable developing economies, that enterprises not equipped to respond to market signals would not suddenly become effective market actors, but bin fires. This is, of course, exactly what ended up happening in Russia. On a practical political level it was the threat (and indeed onset) of social instability and threat to CCP rule which caused China (and Deng Xiaoping specifically) to pull back before it was too late.
Instead of smashing the planned economy at the centre, China adopted policies that acted to freeze the scope of the planned economy, and forced it to grow outwards into the market. By adopting "duel track" state/market pricing systems, gradual reform of enterprises in the direction of autonomy, and zonally limited integration with the world economy, the Chinese economy liberalised at the margins, without breaking at the centre. The result was an island of economic planning situated in an ocean of market activity, the basis of the modern Chinese system.
Although this clearly represented an abandonment the traditional state-socialist model of economic planning, it maintained and modernised the core socialist institutions around the commanding heights of the economy. The result has been the birth of a successful mixed economy in which the state participates through strategically placed publicly owned enterprises and a strong macroeconomic regulatory framework.
Weber, like the Chinese reformists, is more concerned with the facts than how they are described ideologically. However, its hard not read her carefully researched thesis as an implicit argument in favour of contemporary Chinese socialism. Although Weber stops short of saying it outright, the modern Chinese system represents a kind of realisation of the Western European ideal of muscular social democracy which ran aground in the 1970s.
August 16, 2023
Honestly just super interesting. I wish I knew more and had more time to spend studying it. Just an extremely informative book on Chinese economics and approaches to market liberalization. If, for anything, just super helpful seeing approaches beyond the standard ones found in western economic discourse.
July 9, 2022
hard to describe exactly but this book is written in a very german style. no, i will not elaborate further.
December 24, 2025
A really terrific academic study of the evolution of China’s economy from 1978-1989.
The book does not only cover the time span, but also gives a contextual backdrop in the first 4 chapters, spanning the nature of economic development in ancient China that mirrored developments in Deng’s time, the nature of economic orthodoxy in Western economies in their employment of price controls in WW2 and subsequent transitions and grappling against inflation, and the nature of the pre-reform Maoist economy following the Chinese Revolution in 1949.
I disagree with Weber’s ultimate conclusion that China embarked upon capitalism, simply via different methods, but the academic rigour is airtight and the credibility of sources is widespread, ranging from Western sources from the World Bank who attended conferences in China in the relevant period to interviews with exiled Chinese economists.
A must-read to understand China’s unique path of economic development, but it does require at least a passing knowledge of economic concepts first: very technical.
The book does not only cover the time span, but also gives a contextual backdrop in the first 4 chapters, spanning the nature of economic development in ancient China that mirrored developments in Deng’s time, the nature of economic orthodoxy in Western economies in their employment of price controls in WW2 and subsequent transitions and grappling against inflation, and the nature of the pre-reform Maoist economy following the Chinese Revolution in 1949.
I disagree with Weber’s ultimate conclusion that China embarked upon capitalism, simply via different methods, but the academic rigour is airtight and the credibility of sources is widespread, ranging from Western sources from the World Bank who attended conferences in China in the relevant period to interviews with exiled Chinese economists.
A must-read to understand China’s unique path of economic development, but it does require at least a passing knowledge of economic concepts first: very technical.
May 15, 2025
the history was very good but the deep economic analysis was way over my head lol
September 21, 2025
The author is a heterodox economist, more focused on political economy and intellectual history than on empirical modelling. So do not expect regression tables or econometrics here. Instead, Weber is interested in explaining why China, unlike countries such as Poland or East Germany, did not adopt a programme of “shock therapy” – the rapid and painful package of reforms that usually meant price liberalisation, mass privatisation of state industries, abrupt subsidy cuts and a rapid sell-off of public assets.
Similar works, such as Unlikely Partners: Chinese Reformers, Western Economists, and the Making of Global China, have explored the intellectual influences, but Weber’s contribution is to map the debate between reformers in China itself. She shows that the phrase “shock therapy” was rarely used at the time. Instead, softer euphemisms circulated, but the basic idea was the same: quick transformation in the belief that markets would self-correct. Weber carefully reconstructs the arguments of both camps: those pushing for radical liberalisation, and those advocating caution.
Her story highlights the eclectic intellectual influences on Chinese economists. They drew not only on Western free-market thinkers such as Milton Friedman, but also on reformist Marxists and ex-socialist economists like János Kornai and Włodzimierz Brus. The eventual outcome was a hybrid path, with “Chinese characteristics”: gradual liberalisation, limited experimentation, and a strategic decision to keep commanding heights of the economy under state control, whether directly or indirectly. This mixture allowed space for private initiative while retaining political stability and control over critical sectors.
The book introduces a dense cast of reformers, advisers and economists. After a while, especially in the audiobook version, it was difficult to keep track of individuals. This partly reflects the book’s academic origins. It is essentially an expanded doctoral thesis, with all the thoroughness and occasional heaviness that implies.
Overall, it is an informative and important study that explains how China avoided the catastrophic dislocations experienced in parts of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. At times the style felt “very German”, deep but occasionally dry. Yet the central argument is persuasive and makes a valuable contribution to understanding China’s economic rise.
Similar works, such as Unlikely Partners: Chinese Reformers, Western Economists, and the Making of Global China, have explored the intellectual influences, but Weber’s contribution is to map the debate between reformers in China itself. She shows that the phrase “shock therapy” was rarely used at the time. Instead, softer euphemisms circulated, but the basic idea was the same: quick transformation in the belief that markets would self-correct. Weber carefully reconstructs the arguments of both camps: those pushing for radical liberalisation, and those advocating caution.
Her story highlights the eclectic intellectual influences on Chinese economists. They drew not only on Western free-market thinkers such as Milton Friedman, but also on reformist Marxists and ex-socialist economists like János Kornai and Włodzimierz Brus. The eventual outcome was a hybrid path, with “Chinese characteristics”: gradual liberalisation, limited experimentation, and a strategic decision to keep commanding heights of the economy under state control, whether directly or indirectly. This mixture allowed space for private initiative while retaining political stability and control over critical sectors.
The book introduces a dense cast of reformers, advisers and economists. After a while, especially in the audiobook version, it was difficult to keep track of individuals. This partly reflects the book’s academic origins. It is essentially an expanded doctoral thesis, with all the thoroughness and occasional heaviness that implies.
Overall, it is an informative and important study that explains how China avoided the catastrophic dislocations experienced in parts of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. At times the style felt “very German”, deep but occasionally dry. Yet the central argument is persuasive and makes a valuable contribution to understanding China’s economic rise.
November 13, 2024
This book has it all, catty end notes, reconrextualization of classical Chinese philosophy, unconventional economic analysis, etc. Contra Gewirtz's book on the same general subject, Weber's book is more focused on the substance of the economic debates than the personalities, and she draws the implications forward more. She's also more pointed in her critiques of the influence of Milton Friedman on those PRC policymakers that triumphed/survived after 1989. Perhaps I'm biased (in the same direction she is) in a way Gerwirtz is not, but - agree with her or not - I think it is more helpful in shedding light on contemporary policy debates within the PRC on the economy. That is, it suggests that the unwillingness to stimulate consumption/make transfers to households is not merely about political economy constraints, but that ideological blinders. Worth the read considering, at least!
June 24, 2024
Overall, I quite liked it although the structure of the book was a little disjointed. It wasn't entirely what I was expecting - it was moreso an intellectual history (hence the title, "The Market Reform Debate"). Still it was well researched and very in-depth.
There were two major ideological currents within the market reform debate: the neoliberal position which focused on "getting prices right" in broad-spectrum "package reforms," and a much more pragmatist position which focused on "crossing the river by feeling the stones." This pragmatist position was much more grounded in empirical research and understanding precisely the challenges and imbalances within the Chinese economy. Many of its early advocates were sent-down youths who were intimately familiar with the desperate poverty of rural China, as well as more experienced revolutionaries who had participated in the market-making and economic stabilization after the civil war. Weber makes the interesting point that both dogmatic faith in the planning and the market are both forms of idealism divorced from practical administration of economic affairs. In fact, she claims that many of the most ardent neoliberals were originally academic Marxists.
The overall sequence of events goes like this. The Mao-era economy was built on a system of artificially low agricultural prices which subsidized urban employment and industrialization, and high prices for manufactured urban products. Overall, prices were kept extremely stable throughout the first couple decades of the People's Republic, especially important goods like rice and cotton. Capital goods (machines, steel, coal) were entirely unpriced, being allocated directly from producers to consumers. Producers such as factories and communes were generally required to sell a certain quota to the state, and any surplus could be sold on the market. This quota-surplus system is known as the dual-track price system.
After Mao passed away and the Cultural Revolution ended, incremental price reform began to take place. Most important were the rural reforms, driven by the sent-down youth who had returned to the cities. The two major reforms were the end of collective farming and the raising of grain procurement prices.
(As an aside, see https://oliverwkim.com/papers/oliver_... for a paper which uses satellite imagery to repudiate the myth of the household responsibility system's success. The rise in rural prices is probably a better explanation for the rise in rural living standards, and increased use of fertilizers and machines also help explain better yields).
As China moved towards marketization, it became apparent that a price adjustment was needed. The prices of light industrial goods were far too high and primary inputs far too low. In 1984 the dual-track price system was implemented as national policy - but in fact it had already been in operation informally for some time. This allowed the flourishing of town and village enterprises in light industry; however, this was cannibalizing investment into heavy industry. This aggressive investment was causing inflation as wages and prices rose without any corresponding expansion in industrial capacity.
The responses to this issue illustrate the difference between the neoliberals and the pragmatists. One side wanted to impose monetary austerity to cool down the investment, the other wanted to address the structural causes by expanding heavy industrial capacity, and imposing constraints on investments and wages. Instead of reducing demand, they wanted to expand supply, ironically, unlike the neoliberals.
This is more or less how China expanded itself out the imbalances and inflation of the '80s. Rather than impose marketization in one big crash, the market evolved around a state-planned core. The market simply grew large enough that when the dual-trick pricing system was abolished in 1992, it did not majorly upset the economy. There were two near-victories for shock therapy, one was in 1986, but it did not come to pass, and another was in 1988, when Deng Xiaoping pushed through radical price reform which caused massive inflation, unleashed a decade of social tensions culminating in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, and was ultimately rolled back.
International observers played a major part in this, usually with academic economists unconnected from actual policy experience advocating for shock therapy and European officials on both sides of the Iron Curtain advocating for more measured reforms.
All in all, I found it quite interesting. There were a few parts I've omitted, such as discussions on some ancient Chinese texts which touch on very similar themes of how the state should make use of the market, discussion of the American experience of wartime price-setting (a similar crossing the river by feeling the stones method).
Weber stakes out a clear position in favor of pragmatic state governance to address market failures and shows how exactly that kind of pragmatic governance was able to navigate China through difficult economic straits and set it on the path to become the world's number one economic power. However, the large focus of the book is on the intellectual debates, rather than the actual economics, which I personally found somewhat tedious at times.
There were two major ideological currents within the market reform debate: the neoliberal position which focused on "getting prices right" in broad-spectrum "package reforms," and a much more pragmatist position which focused on "crossing the river by feeling the stones." This pragmatist position was much more grounded in empirical research and understanding precisely the challenges and imbalances within the Chinese economy. Many of its early advocates were sent-down youths who were intimately familiar with the desperate poverty of rural China, as well as more experienced revolutionaries who had participated in the market-making and economic stabilization after the civil war. Weber makes the interesting point that both dogmatic faith in the planning and the market are both forms of idealism divorced from practical administration of economic affairs. In fact, she claims that many of the most ardent neoliberals were originally academic Marxists.
The overall sequence of events goes like this. The Mao-era economy was built on a system of artificially low agricultural prices which subsidized urban employment and industrialization, and high prices for manufactured urban products. Overall, prices were kept extremely stable throughout the first couple decades of the People's Republic, especially important goods like rice and cotton. Capital goods (machines, steel, coal) were entirely unpriced, being allocated directly from producers to consumers. Producers such as factories and communes were generally required to sell a certain quota to the state, and any surplus could be sold on the market. This quota-surplus system is known as the dual-track price system.
After Mao passed away and the Cultural Revolution ended, incremental price reform began to take place. Most important were the rural reforms, driven by the sent-down youth who had returned to the cities. The two major reforms were the end of collective farming and the raising of grain procurement prices.
(As an aside, see https://oliverwkim.com/papers/oliver_... for a paper which uses satellite imagery to repudiate the myth of the household responsibility system's success. The rise in rural prices is probably a better explanation for the rise in rural living standards, and increased use of fertilizers and machines also help explain better yields).
As China moved towards marketization, it became apparent that a price adjustment was needed. The prices of light industrial goods were far too high and primary inputs far too low. In 1984 the dual-track price system was implemented as national policy - but in fact it had already been in operation informally for some time. This allowed the flourishing of town and village enterprises in light industry; however, this was cannibalizing investment into heavy industry. This aggressive investment was causing inflation as wages and prices rose without any corresponding expansion in industrial capacity.
The responses to this issue illustrate the difference between the neoliberals and the pragmatists. One side wanted to impose monetary austerity to cool down the investment, the other wanted to address the structural causes by expanding heavy industrial capacity, and imposing constraints on investments and wages. Instead of reducing demand, they wanted to expand supply, ironically, unlike the neoliberals.
This is more or less how China expanded itself out the imbalances and inflation of the '80s. Rather than impose marketization in one big crash, the market evolved around a state-planned core. The market simply grew large enough that when the dual-trick pricing system was abolished in 1992, it did not majorly upset the economy. There were two near-victories for shock therapy, one was in 1986, but it did not come to pass, and another was in 1988, when Deng Xiaoping pushed through radical price reform which caused massive inflation, unleashed a decade of social tensions culminating in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, and was ultimately rolled back.
International observers played a major part in this, usually with academic economists unconnected from actual policy experience advocating for shock therapy and European officials on both sides of the Iron Curtain advocating for more measured reforms.
All in all, I found it quite interesting. There were a few parts I've omitted, such as discussions on some ancient Chinese texts which touch on very similar themes of how the state should make use of the market, discussion of the American experience of wartime price-setting (a similar crossing the river by feeling the stones method).
Weber stakes out a clear position in favor of pragmatic state governance to address market failures and shows how exactly that kind of pragmatic governance was able to navigate China through difficult economic straits and set it on the path to become the world's number one economic power. However, the large focus of the book is on the intellectual debates, rather than the actual economics, which I personally found somewhat tedious at times.
September 24, 2023
EWIG habe ich für dieses Buch gebraucht. Dass ich es trotzdem gerne beendet habe, spricht Bände darüber, wie faszinierend seine Kleinteiligkeit ist. Der Titel könnte darauf hindeuten, dass Isabella M. Weber hier geradlinige Antworten auf eine geradlinige Frage liefert: Wie ist China der Schocktherapie entkommen?
Stattdessen liefert das Buch eine Chronik der gesamten chinesischen Wirtschaftspolitik und -philosophie, über Jahrhunderte und Jahrtausende hinweg. Deutlich wird dabei das besondere Verhältnis der chinesischen Tradition zur Inflation. Die Angst vor dem wirtschaftlichen Kontrollverlust prägt die chinesiche Wirtschaftspolitik bereits so weit sie sich als solche zurückverfolgen lässt. Gleichzeitig zeigt das Buch die lange Tradition der staatlichen/kaiserlichen Eingriffe in die Wirtschaft.
Ein erstaunlicher Teil der jüngeren chinesischen Wirtschaftsgeschichte lässt sich mit einem einzigen chinesischen Sprichwort zusammenfassen, das immer wieder zitiert wird: Mit den Füßen nach Steinen tastend den Fluss überqueren. Die bedachte Vorgehensweise, die da mitschwingt, liefert praktisch auch gleich die Antwort auf die titelgebende Frage: China entkam der Schocktherapie und dem neoliberalen Kollaps, weil es weniger impulsiv handelte. Weil es Dinge Schritt für Schritt verändert und immer erst dann den nächsten Stein aus dem Jenga-Turm zieht, wenn klar ist, dass nichts mehr wackelt. (Oder sich auch mal traute, Fehler einzugestehen und einen ungelenk gezogenen Stein vorsichtig wieder zurück in den Turm zu stecken.)
Dass es ganz so simpel am Ende doch nicht ist, zeigen die hunderten anderen Seiten, die in erstaunlicher textlicher Dichte fast schon erzählerisch jede Wendung und jeden Konflikt durchgehen, den Chinas Wirtschaftspolitik in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten (und davor) durchlebt hat. Es ist eines dieser Bücher mit höllischem Rechercheaufwand, die schon beim bloßen Blick in die Zeilen Ehrfurcht erregen.
Stattdessen liefert das Buch eine Chronik der gesamten chinesischen Wirtschaftspolitik und -philosophie, über Jahrhunderte und Jahrtausende hinweg. Deutlich wird dabei das besondere Verhältnis der chinesischen Tradition zur Inflation. Die Angst vor dem wirtschaftlichen Kontrollverlust prägt die chinesiche Wirtschaftspolitik bereits so weit sie sich als solche zurückverfolgen lässt. Gleichzeitig zeigt das Buch die lange Tradition der staatlichen/kaiserlichen Eingriffe in die Wirtschaft.
Ein erstaunlicher Teil der jüngeren chinesischen Wirtschaftsgeschichte lässt sich mit einem einzigen chinesischen Sprichwort zusammenfassen, das immer wieder zitiert wird: Mit den Füßen nach Steinen tastend den Fluss überqueren. Die bedachte Vorgehensweise, die da mitschwingt, liefert praktisch auch gleich die Antwort auf die titelgebende Frage: China entkam der Schocktherapie und dem neoliberalen Kollaps, weil es weniger impulsiv handelte. Weil es Dinge Schritt für Schritt verändert und immer erst dann den nächsten Stein aus dem Jenga-Turm zieht, wenn klar ist, dass nichts mehr wackelt. (Oder sich auch mal traute, Fehler einzugestehen und einen ungelenk gezogenen Stein vorsichtig wieder zurück in den Turm zu stecken.)
Dass es ganz so simpel am Ende doch nicht ist, zeigen die hunderten anderen Seiten, die in erstaunlicher textlicher Dichte fast schon erzählerisch jede Wendung und jeden Konflikt durchgehen, den Chinas Wirtschaftspolitik in den vergangenen Jahrzehnten (und davor) durchlebt hat. Es ist eines dieser Bücher mit höllischem Rechercheaufwand, die schon beim bloßen Blick in die Zeilen Ehrfurcht erregen.
July 10, 2023
A really good book on an important and under-discussed (if somewhat niche) topic. This book really gets into the weeds, so if you have only a passing interest in Chinese history political-economy then this is definitely not for you. If, for example, you've never heard then name Chen Yun, or if you don't know what "SOE" stands for, I think that's probably an excellent indicator that this book may not be for you. Still, Weber really ties together all that's out there and presents a super compelling and easy- to-understand narrative of Chinese market reforms and the economic debates that informed them them.
In terms of original scholarship, the main contribution to knowledge here, I would say, is the series interviews Weber did with the relevant economists. It clearly really helped her to cement her understanding of just what went down and how. Ironically, most of the time I found myself much less interested in some of the internecine debates than with the general profiling of how the reforms happened and why the Chinese approach worked as well as it did (Weber herself clearly feels the Chinese course of action was highly preferable to the alternative of "Shock Therapy" and she makes a highly compelling set of arguments for why that is).
On balance, a really awesome book. My one small critique was that her chapter on the Salt and Iron economic debates really didn't add anything in my opinion and could have been dispensed with entirely, but on the whole, a really great read.
In terms of original scholarship, the main contribution to knowledge here, I would say, is the series interviews Weber did with the relevant economists. It clearly really helped her to cement her understanding of just what went down and how. Ironically, most of the time I found myself much less interested in some of the internecine debates than with the general profiling of how the reforms happened and why the Chinese approach worked as well as it did (Weber herself clearly feels the Chinese course of action was highly preferable to the alternative of "Shock Therapy" and she makes a highly compelling set of arguments for why that is).
On balance, a really awesome book. My one small critique was that her chapter on the Salt and Iron economic debates really didn't add anything in my opinion and could have been dispensed with entirely, but on the whole, a really great read.
May 16, 2023
This is an extraordinary piece of scholarship that is vigilant against generalization and fastidious to documenting the debate over market reform in China.
Weber has made a name for herself as one of the most engaging and imaginative writers in our current debates on inflation and reading this book it makes sense why. She's talked to some of the most shrewd economic thinkers who helped usher in the most significant economic transformation of the 20th century — the transition from China's state-owned system to a market one.
While situated in China, the scope of the debate is global with Weber pulling in economic thought from West Germany, the Soviet Union, Hungary, Chicago and more. She takes seriously the historical analytical frameworks that the economists in China had of price volatility during the Sino-Japanese War as well as near-ancient dynastic debates like over salt and iron monopolies or the contrast of "light" or "heavy" goods.
There's a rich history of non-Western political economic thought that can offer generative insight today. Weber's book contributes enormously to that and her writing on the current economy is indispensable. I hope that decades down the line, someone will write a book about her contributions today — maybe they'll call it "How America Escaped Larry Summers" lol.
Weber has made a name for herself as one of the most engaging and imaginative writers in our current debates on inflation and reading this book it makes sense why. She's talked to some of the most shrewd economic thinkers who helped usher in the most significant economic transformation of the 20th century — the transition from China's state-owned system to a market one.
While situated in China, the scope of the debate is global with Weber pulling in economic thought from West Germany, the Soviet Union, Hungary, Chicago and more. She takes seriously the historical analytical frameworks that the economists in China had of price volatility during the Sino-Japanese War as well as near-ancient dynastic debates like over salt and iron monopolies or the contrast of "light" or "heavy" goods.
There's a rich history of non-Western political economic thought that can offer generative insight today. Weber's book contributes enormously to that and her writing on the current economy is indispensable. I hope that decades down the line, someone will write a book about her contributions today — maybe they'll call it "How America Escaped Larry Summers" lol.
March 4, 2025
Interesting account of how China decided not to self-immolate in the reform period. For years I’ve learned about the application of “neo-liberal” economic reforms, particularly how terrible they are and how they never do what economic policy should do (develop countries and make people's lives better). This book, paired with Giovanni Arrighi’s Adam Smith in Beijing, gives me a slightly different outlook. Milton Friedman was still the dumbest man on earth, and is currently burning in hell, and all of his disciples should be locked away in solitary confinement for the rest of their lives, but I now see how market mechanisms, guided by the state, can accomplish the goal of higher living standards.
All of the cases discussed, be it Ancient China, Post-war Germany, Civil War China, and so on, are very illuminating, as the book uses them to present economic concepts, some complex and others only seemingly so, as understandable. They’re combined with illuminating details of how the reformers' policies interacted with politics (how they learned not to push reform so far as to piss off the masses or destroy the state). This innate impulse within China, that one could not even raise the price of matches by a few cents, lest the people riot, leads me to some fairly controversial opinions:
- China is democratic, at least to a degree we don’t easily notice.
- It will overtake the west, it is inevitable.
- This is a good thing, and I hope NYC gets Belt and Road money to rebuild our subways.
An aside related to the third point but the book casually reaffirms something I’d forgotten: the U.S. could only stave off post-WW2 recession with endless military spending, first manifested in the American-led holocaust on the Korean peninsula. Hence, I await the day when this country no longer “leads the world.”
All of the cases discussed, be it Ancient China, Post-war Germany, Civil War China, and so on, are very illuminating, as the book uses them to present economic concepts, some complex and others only seemingly so, as understandable. They’re combined with illuminating details of how the reformers' policies interacted with politics (how they learned not to push reform so far as to piss off the masses or destroy the state). This innate impulse within China, that one could not even raise the price of matches by a few cents, lest the people riot, leads me to some fairly controversial opinions:
- China is democratic, at least to a degree we don’t easily notice.
- It will overtake the west, it is inevitable.
- This is a good thing, and I hope NYC gets Belt and Road money to rebuild our subways.
An aside related to the third point but the book casually reaffirms something I’d forgotten: the U.S. could only stave off post-WW2 recession with endless military spending, first manifested in the American-led holocaust on the Korean peninsula. Hence, I await the day when this country no longer “leads the world.”
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May 7, 2025Lots of details. Names, dates, debates... The author had interviews with many people who were literally in the room when decisions were made. I was very impressed with the author's work. Lots of good information, but I think I am retaining very little.
It was hard to work my way through this book. This felt sort of like reading a PhD thesis, and I wanted an undergraduate-level text. Maybe if I went back and read it again more carefully, while taking good notes, then I would get more out of it.
A simplified or abridged version of this book, that covers the main ideas in 100 or 150 pages might be good for non-academics to understand how China handled price reforms. But I predict that only academics or hardcore laypeople will enjoy or be able to fully digest this book.
It was hard to work my way through this book. This felt sort of like reading a PhD thesis, and I wanted an undergraduate-level text. Maybe if I went back and read it again more carefully, while taking good notes, then I would get more out of it.
A simplified or abridged version of this book, that covers the main ideas in 100 or 150 pages might be good for non-academics to understand how China handled price reforms. But I predict that only academics or hardcore laypeople will enjoy or be able to fully digest this book.
June 19, 2025
deep, narrow report of events in China leading up to late 1990’s
I had hoped to find a good mix of empirical and theoretical analysis of China’s evolution from pure communism to market socialism, but this book is more of a play-by-play account of people and events. The author is not ignorant of economics, but does seem slanted enough to miss major concepts. The account helped me better understand China’s economic history and conceptual framework, and how and why it was slow to adopt freer markets, but fails to tell a broader story about China, its economy, or its lessons for the broader world or economic historians.
I had hoped to find a good mix of empirical and theoretical analysis of China’s evolution from pure communism to market socialism, but this book is more of a play-by-play account of people and events. The author is not ignorant of economics, but does seem slanted enough to miss major concepts. The account helped me better understand China’s economic history and conceptual framework, and how and why it was slow to adopt freer markets, but fails to tell a broader story about China, its economy, or its lessons for the broader world or economic historians.
October 19, 2024
"Shock therapy" can kill a country and its people faster than Mao's wildest ideas ever could. China was a hair's breadth from falling into the hands of butchers and charlatans during the hectic era of market transformation in the '80s, and Weber shows us the nature of the ideas up for debate in exacting detail with no reliance on old tropes about Communist China, its governing system, or its ruling philosophies.
It is excruciatingly dry though. It is a rough read for someone with great interest in the subject, much less someone with more passing interest.
It is excruciatingly dry though. It is a rough read for someone with great interest in the subject, much less someone with more passing interest.
May 3, 2022
It would have been a more delightful and informative read if the author had also focussed on other aspects of market reform such as trade liberalisation and privatisation, instead of focussing just on price liberalisation.
December 7, 2023
I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. It presents this era of chinese history in a new light (at least for me). The only thing I wished for it to do which it does not would be a greater economic analysis, but that is a personal preference.
December 24, 2023
A fascinating topic. I learned an extraordinary amount and I think the book has a really sound thesis. While in the beginning some of the chapters seem a bit random, there's definitely intention and a coherent structure. I think the book suffers from a lack of strong editing. Last chapters meander while also feeling really incomplete. But overall a good book!
April 16, 2024
I'm sure this is a great book, but I am just not the target audience. I cannot understand economic history or economics for the life of me, lol. From what I can tell this is a great book on this topic, if that's what you're looking for
March 14, 2025
An excellent, well researched study of China's gradual marketisation and dual-track price system in relation to the policies of shock therapy that were advocated and implemented in the transition from socialist planned economy to capitalist market economy
October 17, 2021
Informative, but tedious and repetitive.
December 13, 2021
I wish there's more charts and figures, so I can see for myself the input-output, prices, and production data that these economists were debating over.
But still, this is a very impressive book
But still, this is a very impressive book
did-not-finish
January 6, 2022pretty thesis like which I found difficult to get through.
March 31, 2023
Very academic and subsequently dry. But still worth reading to understand the fierce debate which characterised China's journey from a planned economy to a market economy.
August 20, 2023
An impressive economic history of Chinese price reforms in the 1980s. As much as I enjoyed this book, 4/5 because Weber mentions the "crisis is danger and opportunity" trope! I don't make the rules.
June 25, 2024
A reler.
July 25, 2024
crazy well resourced and researched
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