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How Trade with
China Threatens
Western Institutions
The Economic Roots
of a Political Crisis
robe rt gm e i n e r
How Trade with China Threatens Western
Institutions
Robert Gmeiner
How Trade
with China Threatens
Western Institutions
The Economic Roots of a Political Crisis
Robert Gmeiner
Methodist University
Fayetteville, NC, USA
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
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For Carmel, who was endlessly patient and supportive through the countless
hours I spent writing this book.
Preface
vii
Contents
1 Introduction 1
References 6
2 China’s Economy and Success Without Freedom 7
From Starvation to Superpower: Evolution of China’s
Overall Economic Approach 7
Decentralization of State Economic Control 8
Economic Incentives and Outcomes under Decentralized
Planning 9
The Sino-Soviet Split: A Harbinger of China’s Intentions 10
Illusory Reforms Under Deng Xiaoping 11
Socialism Without Soviet Characteristics 12
Rapprochement with the United States 13
Freedom? Just Economic Incentives and Political
Repression 14
Incomplete Nature of Reforms 16
The Tiananmen Square Massacre and a New Era
of Repression 19
Naivete of the West—Trade and Political Freedom 20
The Current Economic Landscape of China 22
State Planning—Still an Integral Part of China’s
Economy 25
What Do “Property Rights” Entail in China? 26
Foreign Direct Investment—One Part of the Growth Strategy 28
ix
x CONTENTS
Index 283
Abbreviations
xv
xvi ABBREVIATIONS
Introduction
Now that China is a major trading nation with the world’s second-
largest economy, most if not all of the world must confront the reality
that China’s actions affect the global economy and that of many indi-
vidual countries. This necessitates economic and political decisions by
firms and governments. These decisions are made with a view toward
economic gain, political expediency, and moral philosophy. This book
highlights the ramifications of trade between China and the West that go
far beyond economic welfare gains and specifically focuses on institutions.
Succinctly, institutions are arrangements and structures that undergird
culture and society. In the West, institutions include the free market, rule
of law, freedom of expression, property rights, constitutionally limited
government, and many others.
When rapprochement began between China and the West, it was
thought that China could become a valuable counterweight to the Soviet
Union that might eventually become a free and prosperous country.
Since that time, the Soviet Union has collapsed under the weight of
economic stagnation and China has become increasingly powerful on the
global stage and repressive at home. As economic links grew between
China and the United States and other Western countries, many hoped
that China would embrace the successful Western order and liberalize
its economy and political system. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, democratic and capitalist countries led by the United States almost
very reasonable given China’s continued growth and the fact that its insti-
tutions and global worldview now challenge the once-dominant liberal
Western hegemony.
Institutions undoubtedly determine a country’s trading position
because things such as the rule of law, sound monetary policy, property
rights, and ease of starting a business all affect incentives for economic
activity. Countries with these good institutional characteristics can have a
comparative advantage in producing goods and services that rely on them
(Nunn and Trefler 2014). It was once easy to think that institutional
structures common in the West were the basis for economic prosperity.
They undoubtedly facilitate the West’s prosperity, but China has shown
that although they may be a sufficient condition, they are not a neces-
sary condition. China’s novel contribution was to plainly demonstrate
that incentives for economic production and activity are what matter for
growth and development, and that these incentives can exist without the
market-oriented institutions of the West. China has created incentives for
economic activity without using Western institutional structures.
Scholarship on international trade has not looked extensively at
economic institutions and the ways in which international trade in
goods and services influences the political pressures that shape institu-
tions, although there is some mention. Likewise, economic research on
economic and political institutions has paid little, but not zero, atten-
tion to the role of international trade. The focus on static, or even
dynamic, welfare gains without looking at economic institutions and the
mutual effects of trade and institutions on each other obscures the insti-
tutional harm that can result from trading with countries that lack good
institutions. Institutional quality is not always reflected in the quantified
welfare gains from trade. This book explains why trade with China is
harmful to Western institutions and why it is difficult or impossible for the
West to have unfettered trade with China without suffering institutional
degeneration.
Economic gains from trade always exist; that is a point that has been
repeatedly demonstrated both theoretically and empirically. This book
makes no attempt to dispute that point, but instead looks at the harm that
this trade can inflict on free and inclusive institutions. This harm results
in large measure because of the economic gains from trade, not in spite of
them. Even if Western countries can avoid this harm, continued Chinese
economic growth that is facilitated by trade with the West leads to a
1 INTRODUCTION 5
their economic surplus. This free riding is distinct from trade in goods and
services that is facilitated by comparative advantage that stems from inclu-
sive institutions. The institutions that make the United States and other
Western countries innovative and successful are the same institutions that
make international trade easy. This trade is accompanied by free riding
which leads to the degeneration of economic and political institutions.
Chapter 6 validates the theory from Chapter 5 that describes instances of
this institutional degeneration. Potential policy responses are outlined in
Chapter 7.
References
Buchanan, James M., and Gordon Tullock. 1962. The Calculus of Consent:
Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy. Ann Arbor, MI: University
of Michigan Press.
Friedman, Milton. 1962. Capitalism and Freedom. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Nunn, Nathan, and Daniel Treffler. 2014. Domestic Institutions as a Source of
Comparative Advantage. Handbook of International Economics. 4: 263–315.
Schumpeter, Joseph A. 1942. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. New York:
Harper and Brothers.
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