Markets over Mao: The Rise of Private Business in China

September 10, 2014, 12:00 AM EDT
Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington, DC
Nicholas R. Lardy (PIIE), Richard McGregor (<em>Financial Times </em>) and Jin-Yong Cai (International Finance Corporation)

PIIE Senior Fellow Nicholas R. Lardy presented the conclusions of his latest book published by the Institute, Markets over Mao: The Rise of Private Business in China, on September 10, 2014. Richard McGregor, Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times, provided commentary, along with Jin-Yong Cai, executive vice president and CEO of the International Finance Corporation.

Markets over Mao traces the increasing role of market forces in China and refutes the widely advanced argument that Chinese economic progress rests on the government's control of the economy's "commanding heights." The book also offers evidence that the major sources of China's growth in the future similarly will be market rather than state-driven, with private firms providing the major source of economic growth, the sole source of job creation, and the dominant share of China's still growing role as a global trader.

Nicholas R. Lardy, an expert on the Chinese economy, is the Institute's Anthony M. Solomon Senior Fellow. Richard McGregor previously served as the Financial Times' Beijing bureau chief and Shanghai correspondent. He is author of The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers.

Event Materials

Book: Markets over Mao: The Rise of Private Business in China
Nicholas R. Lardy
September 2014

Presentation [pdf]