World Bank Blogs

"Capitalism" means private ownership of capital. 30% of industrial and service sector assets in China are stated-owned: http://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/state-owned-enterprises-in-china-how-big-are-they. About 45% of the industrial sector is state-owned, down from 70% in 1999 (still more than two decades after Deng left office, and more than a decade after China's economic boom began). The profit share of the state owned enterprises is even higher: 43% of industrial and business profits in China yield from state owned enterprises: http://thediplomat.com/2013/06/19/reforming-chinas-state-owned-enterprises.

In a purely definitional sense, China is at best a hybrid economy now, and was a primarily communist economy long after its economy started booming.

Even to the extent that China's economy is ostensibly privately owned, the government still exercises tremendous control. For example while the banks are joint stock companies, and thus reflect substantial private ownership of equity, the Chinese government still owns the majority of the shares in many of them giving them tremendous power over those banks.

I don't think China can be fairly called a "capitalist" economy. It's a managed economy where the managers have allowed the free market to allocate resources at the lower levels, while the central government directs broader, longer-term economic objectives.

> and sometimes wonder if it is willful

I think it is.

We See What We Want to See and hear what we want to hear [0]

Francis Bacon said in 1620 that "the human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion … draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises, or else by some distinction sets aside and rejects; in order that by this great and pernicious predetermination the authority of its former conclusions may remain inviolate." [1]

Biased processing and confirmation bias are most likely to occur when people feel threatened in their beliefs[2]

[0] - https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/kidding-ourselves/201404/we-see-what-we-want-see

https://blogs.worldbank.org/publicsphere/i-only-hear-what-i-want-hear-and-so-do-you

[1] - www.constitution.org/bacon/nov_org.htm

[2] - http://psy2.ucsd.edu/~mckenzie/nickersonConfirmationBias.pdf

Thanks for the book suggestion though.

> The most recent example is China turning to free markets, and the resulting vast improvement in their economy.

China hasn't turned to anything like textbook Anglosphere free markets. Yeah they loosened up and turned away from classical central planning, but state-owned firms still control 30% of assets and their government does quite a to set economic policy and direction. They didn't privatize everything and let the free market run amok.

[1] http://blogs.worldbank.org/eastasiapacific/state-owned-enterprises-in-china-how-big-are-they: With all these evidences in hand, we can now answer the question raised before: How big are Chinese SOEs? Even though their share in the economy continued to decline in the past decade, SOEs still make up a substantial part of the national economy – roughly controlling 30 percent of the total secondary and tertiary assets, or over 50 percent of total industrial assets.

This is really just more evidence of a longer trending-up in the belief that fibbing is OK if it serves the greater good. You can exaggerate the dangers of secondhand smoke, if that helps you stamp out smoking. [0] You can exaggerate the general population's risk of contracting HIV, if that raises awareness for AIDS research. [1] And you can, clearly, misrepresent the science on gender differences if it serves a larger feminist platform. [2]

Surely, some scientists must know they're doing this. But, crucially, most people are just repeating what they've been told by experts.

[0] http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2017/02/secondhand_smoke_isn_t_as_bad_as_we_thought.html

[1] https://blogs.worldbank.org/impactevaluations/people-think-it-s-easy-contract-hiv-s-good-thing-right-maybe-not-guest-post-jason-kerwin

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hb3oe7-PJ8

> What's the balance? I've no idea,

An obvious solution is rural development, looking to India as an example. The accelerating urban migration in India in the 90s/2000s was not organic: young people were forced to leave their homes because they didn't have job opportunities or enough land to farm, and then older people had to follow for cultural and economic reasons. The ultimate goal is sustainable urban growth, but cities can't immediately handle what this would require. Instead, India has instituted fairly successful rural development programs that are aimed at increasing jobs, improving social safety nets, and empowering women. I think China should seriously consider ramping up similar efforts.

http://blogs.worldbank.org/endpovertyinsouthasia/what-india-s-successful-rural-development-programs-can-teach-world

That's like saying "we don't need teachers because we've got books". A how-to guide has to assume a certain level of knowledge, so will inevitably be insultingly basic for some readers or completely impenetrable for others. A static document can't elaborate on something you don't understand or fill in gaps in your knowledge. It can't help you debug a problem or look at your setup and point out where you might have gone wrong.

We now have good evidence that AI-assisted learning can be substantially more effective than traditional methods, at incredibly low marginal cost.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2024/09/professor-tailored-ai-tutor-to-physics-course-engagement-doubled/

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/education/From-chalkboards-to-chatbots-Transforming-learning-in-Nigeria