Power and Wealth in Rural China
The Political Economy of Institutional Change

This study focuses on China's rural industries, offering a theoretical framework to explain institutional change.

Susan H. Whiting (Author)

9780521028417, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2006

372 pages, 4 b/w illus. 2 maps
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.558 kg

'Whiting builds an astonishingly rich and powerful interpretive framework in this study of government and industry in rural East China. Beginning with a solid foundation of personal experience derived from extensive fieldwork, Whiting employs a rigorous comparative research design to analyze the divergent paths of rural industrialization and to explain their political causes and consequences. Her close attention to incentives within the complex Chinese institutional environment pays an unexpected bonanza when she is able to deploy it to explain not just local politics, but interactions between local and central policymakers as well. A work destined to take its place on the short-list of essential works on China in transition.' Barry Naughton, University of California, San Diego

China's rural industrial sector has been the engine driving much of the Chinese economy's dynamism during the reform period. The nature and development of this sector, also referred to as township and village enterprises (TVEs) defy easy explanation. Across regions, there is dramatic variation in property rights among TVEs, ranging from local government ownership to outright private ownership. This book focuses on China's rural industries, offering a theoretical framework to explain institutional change. Susan Whiting explores the complex interactions of individuals, institutions and the broader political economy to examine variation and change in property rights and extractive institutions in China's rural industrial sector. Whiting explains why public ownership predominated during the early years of reform and why privatization is now taking place. This book will be of interest not only to those studying Chinese economic development and reform but also to scholars and students of comparative politics and political economy.

List of maps, figures, and tables
Preface
1. Explaining institutional change
2. The Maoist legacy in rural industry
3. Incentive structures and local cadre behavior
4. Incentives, constraints, and the evolution of property rights
5. Statis and change in extractive institutions
6. Credit allocation and collective organizational structures
7. The political economy of institutional change
Appendix
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Cultural studies [JFC]