Substantial changes of economic policy and strategy in the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan : a comparative study

• Main Author: Shih, Philbert Han-Yeung
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/5988

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.