Why China’s economy won’t be fixed
An increasingly autocratic government is making bad decisions
WHATEVER HAS gone wrong? After China rejoined the world economy in 1978, it became the most spectacular growth story in history. Farm reform, industrialisation and rising incomes lifted nearly 800m people out of extreme poverty. Having produced just a tenth as much as America in 1980, China’s economy is now about three-quarters the size. Yet instead of roaring back after the government abandoned its “zero-covid” policy at the end of 2022, it is lurching from one ditch to the next.
This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Xi’s failing model”
From the August 26th 2023 edition
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