All the sources agree that China’s economy has some elements of market-orientation and decentralization with elements of central control. The degree to which each source believes this to be accurate of China’s economy, however, differs.
Huang and Oi disagree about privatization and ownership of town and village enterprises. The former asserts the central government encourages privatization and that TVEs are largely autonomous. The later, on the other hand, asserts the Chinese government discourages private ownership and that TVEs are government-owned. Hale and Hale agree with Huang in that China’s private sector is expanding. Hsueh reconciles China’s deregulation and centralization by claiming China’s economy is bi-faceted. As a result, Hsueh agrees with both arguments about the nature of China’s economy (i.e. Huang versus Oi).
Schmitz is much more openly critical of the Chinese government than Hessler, but both agree that it prefers urban development over rural (to the detriment of villages and their inhabitants). Along with Hessler and Schmitz, Huang and the Hales also discuss worsening urban-rural disparity as a result of prioritization of cities.
The CRS source, Schmitz, Oi, and Hsueh agree that China’s economy has been split into sectors – which the government ranks based on strategic value. While the others downplay this fact, Hsueh makes it a central part of her argument: the value attributed to a sector at a given time influences which of two economic strategies the Chinese government will employ.
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