China has a celebrated history of policy experiments
Still, researchers find it could improve how it does them
IN MAY 1919 John Dewey, an American philosopher, embarked on a lecture tour of China. “We are going to see more of the dangerous daring side of life here,” he predicted. His celebration of learning by doing and social experimentation was enthusiastically received by the country’s daring reformers and dangerous revolutionaries. At least one of his lectures was attended by a young schoolteacher called Mao Zedong. “Everything through experimentation,” Dewey declared on his tour. Chairman Mao would later repeat the line as China’s ruler.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Red swan over China”
Finance & economics April 9th 2022
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- China has a celebrated history of policy experiments
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