Between shock therapy and reformist ´pragmatism
Analysis of China’s and Russia’s economic reforms in the 1980s and 1990s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53897/RevPortes.2025.04.05Keywords:
shock therapy, prices liberalization, privatization, inflation, market liberalizationAbstract
China and Russia adopted different economic policies in their transformation from state socialism to market economies. Some economists argued in favour of shock therapy- liberalization of prices, domestic markets and fiscal and monetary discipline. Shock therapy, the prescribed neoliberal policy, was applied in Russia; while the Chinese government promoted a gradual marketization beginning at the margins of the economic system. By the end of the nineties, Russia´s share of world GDP halved from 3.7% to less than 2% in 2000. While China´s share increased from mere 2% to 1990 to 4% by the early 2000.
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