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Is It Capitalism?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Marshall W. Meyer
Marshall W. Meyer*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania, USA
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Abstract

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I introduce the three articles in the MOR Editor's Forum on Chinese Capitalism. I then ask whether China's recent economic growth has been driven by a vibrant capitalism or instead has become an end in itself, supported by government policies promoting high rates of fixed asset investment. There are two key observations. First, gross domestic product (GDP), measured and reported at four levels of government, has much greater salience than corporate profits, often undisclosed. Second, fixed asset investment accounted for more than 60 percent of China's 2009 GDP and nearly two-thirds of 2008-2009 GDP growth, levels unprecedented for a major economy. Rather than capitalism, I argue that institutionalized GDP growth today accounts for China's rapid economic development.

Keywords

capitalismChinaeconomic growthgross domestic product (GDP)资本主义中国经济增长国内生产总值
Type
Editorial
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 2011 , pp. 5 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2011

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