IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecosys/v37y2013i1p30-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The transition from dual-track pricing to a market system: Winners and losers

Author

Listed:
  • Bennett, John
  • Dixon, Huw
  • Hu, Helen X.Y.

Abstract

We formulate a microeconomic model of the dual-track price system for households and use it to analyze ‘transitional policy’ reforms, i.e., a rise in the plan-track price and a reduction in the plan-track quantity. Each of these reforms has a negative effect on the market price, but a positive effect on the weighted average price (CPI). Under fairly mild assumptions, if households are heterogeneous and resale of goods can occur, transitional policy reform creates losers (state employees) as well as winners (non-state employees). Thus, although the transition from central planning to DTP potentially occurs with no losers, further reform is painful for some.

Suggested Citation

  • Bennett, John & Dixon, Huw & Hu, Helen X.Y., 2013. "The transition from dual-track pricing to a market system: Winners and losers," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 30-44.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecosys:v:37:y:2013:i:1:p:30-44
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecosys.2012.05.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0939362512000994
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecosys.2012.05.005?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. Bennett, John & Dixon, Huw David, 1996. "A Macrotheoretic Model of the Chinese Economy," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 277-294, June.
    2. Basu, Kaushik & Emerson, Patrick M, 2000. "The Economics of Tenancy Rent Control," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(466), pages 939-962, October.
    3. Sah, Raaj Kumar & Srinivasan, T. N., 1988. "Distributional consequences of rural food levy and subsidized urban rations," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 141-159, January.
    4. Gao, X. M. & Wailes, Eric J. & Cramer, Gail L., 1996. "Partial Rationing and Chinese Urban Household Food Demand Analysis," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 43-62, February.
    5. Lawrence J. Lau & Yingyi Qian & Gerard Roland, 2000. "Reform without Losers: An Interpretation of China's Dual-Track Approach to Transition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(1), pages 120-143, February.
    6. Byrd, William A., 1987. "The impact of the two-tier plan/market system in chinese industry," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 295-308, September.
    7. Gautam Jaggi & Mary Rundle & Daniel H. Rosen & Yuichi Takahashi, 1996. "China's Economic Reforms: Chronology and Statistics," Working Paper Series WP96-5, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    8. Lau, Lawrence J. & Qian, Yingyi & Roland, Gerard, 1997. "Pareto-improving economic reforms through dual-track liberalization," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 285-292, August.
    9. Bennett, John & Dixon, Huw David, 1995. "Macroeconomic equilibrium and reform in a transitional economy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1465-1485, October.
    10. Sicular, Terry, 1988. "Plan and Market in China's Agricultural Commerce," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(2), pages 283-307, April.
    11. Liew, Leong H, 1993. "Rent-Seeking and the Two-Track Price System in China," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 77(2), pages 359-375, October.
    12. Dixon, Huw, 1987. "The General Theory of Household and Market Contingent Demand," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 55(3), pages 287-304, September.
    13. Guy Shaojia Liu & Haiyan Song, 2003. "A Dual-Price Demand Theory for Economies under Transition," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 185-203.
    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. John Bennett & Huw Dixon & Helen X.Y. Hu, 2008. "The Effects of Reforming the Chinese Dual-Track Price System," CEDI Discussion Paper Series 08-14, Centre for Economic Development and Institutions(CEDI), Brunel University.
    2. Roland, Gerard & Verdier, Thierry, 2003. "Law enforcement and transition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 669-685, August.
    3. SHEA, Esther Y.P., 2010. "Understanding China's grain procurement policy from a perspective of optimization," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 639-649, December.
    4. Acharya Sanjaya & Signorelli Marcello & Vojinovic Borut & Oplotnik Žan Jan, 2013. "Alternative Approach to Economic Restructuring to Benefit the Poor – Sam Multipliers Analysis as Alternative Approach," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 60(1), pages 182-201, July.
    5. Bhatt, Vipul & Liao, Mouhua & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2023. "Government policy and land price dynamics: A quantitative assessment of China’s factor market reforms," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    6. Jiahua Che & Giovanni Facchini, 2004. "Dual Track Liberalization: With and Without Losers," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2004-669, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    7. Lu Ming & Zhao Chen & Yongqin Wang & Yan Zhang & Yuan Zhang & Changyuan Luo, 2013. "China’s Economic Development," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14502.
    8. Che, Jiahua & Facchini, Giovanni, 2007. "Dual track reforms: With and without losers," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(11-12), pages 2291-2306, December.
    9. Tang, Rongsheng & Tang, Yang, 2022. "Market formation in China from 1978," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    10. Ma, Yuanyuan & Walsh, Patrick Paul, 2013. "Party Membership and State Jobs in Urban China," IZA Discussion Papers 7643, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Guriev, Sergei & Cheremukhin, Anton & Golosov, Mikhail & Tsyvinski, Aleh, 2015. "The Economy of People’s Republic of China from 1953," CEPR Discussion Papers 10764, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Anton Cheremukhin & Mikhail Golosov & Sergei Guriev & Aleh Tsyvinski, 2015. "The Economy of People’s Republic of China from 1953," NBER Working Papers 21397, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Michael Mandler, 2001. "Accessible Pareto-Improvements: Using Market Information to Reform Inefficiencies," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 398, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    14. Tran, Hien Thu & Santarelli, Enrico, 2018. "Successful Transition to a Market Economy in Vietnam: An Interpretation from Organizational Ecology Theory," GLO Discussion Paper Series 181, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. C. A. Claussen, 2002. "On the Dynamic Consistency of Reform and Compensation Schemes," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 133-144.
    16. Lawrence J. Lau & Yingyi Qian & Gerard Roland, 2000. "Reform without Losers: An Interpretation of China's Dual-Track Approach to Transition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(1), pages 120-143, February.
    17. Bennett, John & David Dixon, Huw, 2001. "Monetary Policy and Credit in China: A Theoretical Analysis," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 297-314, April.
    18. Fung, Michael Ka-Yiu & Ho, Wai-Ming & Zhu, Lijing, 2000. "The Impact of Credit Control and Interest Rate Regulation on the Transforming Chinese Economy: An Analysis of Long-Run Effects," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 293-320, June.
    19. Yin, Xiangkang, 1998. "The Macroeconomic Effects of Waiting Workers in the Chinese Economy," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 150-164, March.
    20. Garbaccio, Richard F., 1995. "Price reform and structural change in the Chinese economy: Policy simulations using a CGE model," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 1-34.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dual-track pricing; China;

    JEL classification:

    • P2 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies
    • H3 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:eee:ecosys:v:37:y:2013:i:1:p:30-44. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/osteide.html .

    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.