[Biweekly Symposium] No.365, The future of China: Marketization vs. Mechanization
Author:Unirule
Time：2008-07-04 14:13:03 Clicks:
Topic: The future of China: Marketization vs. Mechanization Lecturer:Prof. Wu Jinglian Discussants:Prof. Zhou Qiren, Prof. Mao Yushi, Prof. Cao Yuan Zheng, Prof. Sheng Hong, Prof. Li Shi, Prof. Zhao Renwei
This year is the thirty anniversaries of China’s reform and “opening-up”. Unirule, which has been working on enhancing the public understanding of the merit of an free economy since it was founded in 1993, hold a series of symposium on re-examining the gains from China’s 30 years of reform and “opening-up” in this June to September. Below it’s the proceedings of the first of this series of symposiums. At the 365th Unirule bi-weekly symposium, Prof. Wu Jinglian, one of the preeminent economists of China, delivered a speech entitled “Marketization vs. Mechanization”. He first reviewed the history of China’s 30 years of reform and “opening-up” with focus on how China transferred from a central planned economy to a free economy. Then he turn to the recent dispute on whether China should continue the reform towards a market economy or turn back to embrace the old socialism model. He believed China has made great achievement during the thirty year reform, even though much left to be down. The formation of a market oriented economy, on the one hand, created the China’s economic miracle; one the other hand the lack of a well functioned legal system which is crucial for the operation of market mechanism has made China’s market economy becoming more and more close to crony capitalism. In addition to the absent of a well functioned legal system. China’s market economy is further damaged by excess government intervention. Resources, like land and energy that should be distributed by market mechanism are being assigned according to government’s will. Prof. Wu argued that China badly needs to improve its constitutions and legal system. The future of China largely depends on how fast and to what extend China could fulfill the reform in these two areas.
