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The Industrial Reserve Army and Wage Setting in China

Author

Listed:
  • Esther Majerowicz

    (Department of Economics of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN))

Abstract

We propose a Marxist interpretation of wage setting in post-reform China and an account of the formation of its industrial reserve army (IRA). We discuss the party-state shifting strategies toward depeasantization and the social forms under which laborers were absorbed in nonagricultural activities. Far from experiencing the end of unlimited supplies of labor, China has built a massive IRA that has nonetheless the wage rate formation and the evolution of class struggle and state policies responding to it, which together explain the broad patterns of wage behavior in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Esther Majerowicz, 2022. "The Industrial Reserve Army and Wage Setting in China," Bulletin of Political Economy, Bulletin of Political Economy, vol. 16(1), pages 21-56, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:awu:journl:v:16:y:2022:i:1:p:21-56
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Minghao Li & Wendong Zhang & Dermot J. Hayes, 2018. "Can China's Rural Land Policy Reforms Solve its Farmland Dilemma?," Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) Publications apr-winter-2018-4, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University.
    2. Zhu, Qiuxia & Elbern, Stefanie, 2002. "Economic Institutional Evolution And Further Needs For Adjustments: Township Village Enterprises In China," Discussion Papers 18741, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    3. repec:zbw:bofitp:2014_013 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Holz, Carsten A., 2014. "Wage determination in China during the reform period," BOFIT Discussion Papers 13/2014, Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    China; proletarianization; industrial reserve army; wage determination; depeasantization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • P30 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - General

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