| Summary: | This thesis focuses on an isolated subset of cases where governments have made
decisions to substantially change economic development policy and strategy. The two
countries under consideration are the Republic of China on Taiwan and the People's
Republic of China. The initiation of market opening reforms in China during the late
1970s/early 1980s, the transition to export-led growth strategies during the late
1950s/early 1960s, and the postwar land reform in Taiwan constitute three specific cases
of economic policy change. This thesis will attempt to compare and contrast these cases
in the hopes of uncovering the underlying rationales explaining the initation of policy
change in China and Taiwan, illuminating some of their important similarities and
differences. This thesis will also attempt to draw some theoretical conclusions concerning
economic policy change from these unique experiences.
The conclusion presented in this thesis argues that in the cases considered, the
sources of economic policy change are multi-causal. Economic, political, international,
ideational, and institutional factors are interrelated and together explain economic policy
changes. The interrelationships between these variables are elucidated most clearly when
particular attention is paid to the political and economic contexts surrounding instances of
policy change. In short, it is the mufti-causal nature of economic policy change that
confirms the insufficiency of exclusively economic explanations of economic policy
change.
|
|---|
