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China’s Escape from the Peripheral Condition: A Success Story?

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  • Francesco Macheda
  • Roberto Nadalini

Abstract

This article explores the strategy of active interventions through which Chinese policymakers have created the conditions for pulling their country out of its peripheral status within the world economy. We find that the strategic use of exchange rate policy and the maintenance of extensive ownership in industrial assets by the national government have played a key role in cumulatively promoting the upgrading of technological capabilities of the national workforce since the mid-1990 onward. Economic data show support for the hypotheses of an increasing capacity of Chinese producers to gain access to oligopolistic technology markets. To the extent that this offers the opportunity to capture a slice of the technological rent hitherto reserved to the capitalist center, our study suggests that the growth of real wages in China will be consistent with the maintenance of the country’s external balance in the long run. JEL classification: L16, O47, J21, F13, B51

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Macheda & Roberto Nadalini, 2022. "China’s Escape from the Peripheral Condition: A Success Story?," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 54(1), pages 59-82, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:reorpe:v:54:y:2022:i:1:p:59-82
    DOI: 10.1177/04866134211035493
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    Cited by:

    1. Francesco Macheda, 2022. "Industrial Policies and State-Owned Enterprises: The Foundations of China’s Path Towards Decarbonization," L'industria, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 4, pages 581-619.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    poverty and middle-income traps; labor force participation; structural change; technological catch-up; Marxian economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • B51 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Socialist; Marxian; Sraffian

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