IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/pubcho/v187y2021i1d10.1007_s11127-020-00835-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Kornai on the affinity of systems: Is China today an illiberal capitalist system or a communist dictatorship?

Author

Listed:
  • Péter Mihályi

    (Corvinus University of Budapest and Central European University)

  • Iván Szelényi

    (Yale University)

Abstract

More than 40 years ago, János Kornai introduced his famous supermarket metaphor. Socioeconomic systems cannot be constructed from purposely selected features, similar to customers in a supermarket, who can freely put into their shopping trolley whatever they like. Systems constitute an organic whole. They contain good and bad features in fixed proportions. After 1990, Kornai and most Western commentators expected that as market integration and private property expand, China would eventually turn into a liberal democracy. Prior to the worldwide fall of communism, Kornai had three primary criteria to determine whether a country was socialist or capitalist; later he amended this with six secondary ones. The present paper introduces into this list an additional 11 criteria—i.e. 20 quantifiable metrics altogether. Kornai was among the very first to recognize that with President Xi Jinping taking charge, China made a U-turn. While capitalist elements remain strong, in the final analysis, the country is on its way back to where it was before 1978.

Suggested Citation

  • Péter Mihályi & Iván Szelényi, 2021. "Kornai on the affinity of systems: Is China today an illiberal capitalist system or a communist dictatorship?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 187(1), pages 197-216, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:187:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-020-00835-0
    DOI: 10.1007/s11127-020-00835-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11127-020-00835-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11127-020-00835-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roland, Gerard, 2019. "Coexisting with China in the 21st Century," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 69(supplemen), pages 49-70, January.
    2. Hengzhou Xu & Yihang Zhao & Ronghui Tan & Hongchun Yin, 2017. "Does the Policy of Rural Land Rights Confirmation Promote the Transfer of Farmland in China?," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 67(4), pages 643-672, December.
    3. Kornai, Janos, 1992. "The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198287766.
    4. Kornai, Janos, 1980. "The Dilemmas of a Socialist Economy: The Hungarian Experience," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 4(2), pages 147-157, June.
    5. Nuti, Domenico Mario, 2019. "The Chinese Alternative," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 69(supplemen), pages 31-47, January.
    6. János Kornai, 2016. "The System Paradigm Revisited. Clarification and Additions in the Light of Experiences in the Post-Socialist Region," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 66(4), pages 547-596, December.
    7. Huang,Yasheng, 2008. "Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521898102, January.
    8. Chenggang Xu, 2019. "The Pitfalls of a Centralized Bureaucracy," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 69(1), pages 1-16, March.
    9. Fan, Gang & Ma, Guangrong & Wang, Xiaolu, 2019. "Institutional Reform and Economic Growth of China: 40-year Progress Toward Marketization," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 69(supplemen), pages 7-20, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2021. "Introduction: a special issue in honoring Janos Kornai," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 187(1), pages 1-13, April.
    2. Ravi Sarathy & Elitsa R. Banalieva, 2014. "Economic Development And Marketing Strategies: A Comparative Lens," Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, Faculty of Economics, Vilnius University, vol. 5(1).
    3. Bruno Dallago & Sara Casagrande, 2020. "The ''New Comparative Economics''. A critical review," DEM Working Papers 2020/4, Department of Economics and Management.
    4. Liou, Chih-shian, 2014. "Rent-seeking at Home, Capturing Market Share Abroad: The Domestic Determinants of the Transnationalization of China State Construction Engineering Corporation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 220-231.
    5. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2018. "János Kornai and General Equilibrium Theory," Acta Oeconomica, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 68(supplemen), pages 27-52, January.
    6. repec:hal:cepnwp:hal-01583569 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Harris,Colin & Cai,Meina & Murtazashvili,Ilia & Murtazashvili,Jennifer Brick, 2020. "The Origins and Consequences of Property Rights," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108969055, January.
    8. Zhou, Wubiao, 2017. "Institutional environment, public-private hybrid forms, and entrepreneurial reinvestment in a transition economy," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 197-214.
    9. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2021. "Socialism and Kornai’s revolutionary perspective," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 187(1), pages 37-54, April.
    10. Dumitriu, Ramona & Stefanescu, Răzvan, 2015. "Economic development of Comecon countries," MPRA Paper 89012, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Jan 2016.
    11. Maria Csanádi & Ferenc Gyuris, 2020. "Uneven Economic Overheating in a Transforming Party-State During the Global Crisis: The Case of China," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 2036, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    12. McNally Christopher A, 2011. "China's Changing Guanxi Capitalism: Private Entrepreneurs between Leninist Control and Relentless Accumulation," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-31, August.
    13. William T. Allen & Han Shen, 2011. "Assessing China's Top-Down Securities Markets," NBER Working Papers 16713, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Kim, Byung Yeon, 1997. "Soviet Household Saving Function," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 30(2-3), pages 181-203.
    15. J. Kornai., 2002. "The System Paradigm," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, vol. 4.
    16. repec:zbw:bofitp:2008_015 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. John S. Earle & Klara Z. Sabirianova, 2002. "How Late to Pay? Understanding Wage Arrears in Russia," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 661-707, July.
    18. Guo Chen & Amy K Glasmeier & Min Zhang & Yang Shao, 2016. "Urbanization and Income Inequality in Post-Reform China: A Causal Analysis Based on Time Series Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-16, July.
    19. Helena Hannula, 2001. "Restructuring of the Estonian economy and the role of FDIs in it," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, in: Foreign Direct Investments in the Estonian Economy, volume 9, chapter 3, pages 91-174, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    20. J. David Brown & John S. Earle, 2002. "Job Reallocation and Productivity Growth under Alternative Economic Systems and Policies: Evidence from the Soviet Transition," CERT Discussion Papers 0208, Centre for Economic Reform and Transformation, Heriot Watt University.
    21. Katharina Pistor & Martin Raiser & Stanislaw Gelfer, 2000. "Law and Finance in Transition Economies," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 8(2), pages 325-368, July.
    22. Berkowitz, Daniel & DeJong, David N., 2002. "Accounting for growth in post-Soviet Russia," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 221-239, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:pubcho:v:187:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s11127-020-00835-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.