The Chinese economic growth story started in 1978 with Deng Xiaoping taking charge of the Chinese Communist Party. Interestingly, Xiaoping did not hold any official post. Nevertheless, he was looked upon as the Supreme Leader of China between 1978 and 1992. Most accounts of China's astonishing double digit growth for close to three decades give credit to Xiaoping for initiating Chinese economic growth and pulling out millions of people out of poverty in a very short period of time. History when it gets written is built around the idea of Great Men doing great things. But things are never as simple as that.
As Matt Ridley writes in The Evolution of Everything: "If you examine closely what happened in China in 1978, it was a more evolutionary story than is usually assumed. It all began in the countryside with the 'privatisation' of collective farms to allow individual ownership of land and of harvests. But this change was not ordered from above by a reforming government."
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In the village of Xiaogang, 18 farmers came together. They despaired the dismal production of their farms under the collective system. And they did not like the fact that they had to beg for food from other villages. Given this, one evening they gathered together to figure out what they could do. This was at a time when even holding a meeting was considered a serious crime.
As Ridley writes: "The first, brave man to speak was Yen Jinchang, who suggested that each family should own what it grew, and that they should divide the collective's land among the families. On a precious scrap of paper he wrote down a contract that they all signed...The families went to work on the land, starting before the official's whistle blew each morning and ending long after the day's work was supposed to finish."
And this soon stared to show results. "Incentivised by the knowledge that they could profit from their work, in the first year they grew more food than the land had produced in previous five years combined," writes Ridley.
Of course, the local communist party bosses soon came to know. The regional communist party chief intervened to save Yen and at the same time recommended that the same experiment should be copied elsewhere as well. "This was the proposal that eventually reached Deng Xiaoping's desk. He chose not to stand in the way, that was all. But it was not until 1982 that the party officially recognised that family farms could be allowed - by which time they were everywhere," writes Ridley.
The economic incentives of private ownership rapidly transformed farming in China and industry soon followed. While the Communist Party still continues to rule the country, the economic success of China wasn't built on socialism. And there is a thing or two that Indian politicians can learn from this, given their obsession with socialism.
Private firms are normally better at running businesses than the government. This is something that politicians including prime minister Narendra Modi need to understand. As TN Ninan writes in The Turn of the Tortoise-The Challenge and Promise of India's Future: "The last quarter century's experience has shown that when the private sector is asked to provide telecom services, run airlines and airports, build and run ports, undertake banking, distribute electricity and even undertake water supply, the result is usually (though not always, for there is no shortage of private banks and airlines that have failed) a substantial improvement on what, the government was doing until then."
This is basically means two things. One is that the government should be getting out of all the businesses that it has been trying to run for all these years. This is a point that I have often made in the past. There is no point in the government running more than 25 banks. There is no point in the government running a phone company or an airline for that matter. It does not serve any purpose.
As Ninan writes: "It is a matter of regret that Narendra Modi, who got elected on the promise of 'minimum government, maximum governance', has shown no taste for radical change or minimizing government...The government system continues to run loss-making airlines and hotels, three-wheeler units and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam."
Also, in its effort to do everything, the government doesn't pay adequate attention to many important areas. As Ninan writes: "There is too little of government attention paid to core areas like law and order, education and health-too few judges, too few teachers who teach, too few hospital beds; also too few trade negotiators and too few policemen, especially those with proper training. It should be obvious that there are many things that the state does inadequately or badly, and many tasks that the state has needlessly taken on itself."
The second point here is that the government should be encouraging entrepreneurship in all possible ways. One point against entrepreneurship are India's multiple labour laws. But they may not be as much of a problem as they are made out to be.
It is often argued that Indian entrepreneurs do not expand beyond a certain point because it is very difficult to fire workers once they have been taken on. The Chapter VB of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, makes it very difficult for companies with 100 employees or more, to fire an employee without the permission from the government. This, it is argued, prevents entrepreneurs from expanding.
Economist Pranab Bardhan makes an interesting point in Globalisation, Democracy and Corruption: "It is not clear that the rigid law on retrenchment is always the binding constraint on manufacturing expansion. Take the highly labour-intensive garments industry, for example. A combined dataset [of both the formal and informal sectors] shows that about 92 per cent of garment firms in India have fewer than eight employees...Labour law cannot discourage an eight-employee firm from expanding to an 80-employee firm since Chapter VB of the Industrial Disputes Act does not kick in until the firm reaches the size of 100 employees."
So what is stopping these firms from expanding? "The binding constrains on the expansion of that eight-employee firm may have to do with inadequate credit and marketing opportunity, erratic power supply, wretched roads, bureaucratic regulations etc. There are good statistical studies by some economists which show that states with more rigid labour laws have had lower industrial growth and that labour laws can be a constraint. But these studies do not show that they are the only or even the main constraint," writes Bardhan.
What this tells us very clearly is that the Modi government should work towards removing these binding constraints. This will allow entrepreneurship to flourish. That will lead to more jobs, better pays, higher spending and in the process, higher economic growth.
Vivek is a writer who has worked at senior positions with the Daily News and Analysis (DNA) and The Economic Times, in the past. He has just finished writing a trilogy on the history of money and the financial crisis. The series is titled Easy Money. His writing has also appeared in The Times of India, Business Standard, Business Today, The Hindu and The Hindu Business Line.
Disclaimer: The views mentioned above are of the author only. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Equitymaster do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader. Please read the detailed Terms of Use of the web site.
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16 Responses to "Here is One Chinese Story that Narendra Modi Needs to Listen to"
P V Ranganathan
Jan 13, 2016
Jan 13, 2016
Poola
The last sentence of your article: But that is exactly what Mr. Modi is trying to do
The last sentence of your article: But that is exactly what Mr. Modi is trying to do
Sundaravaradan S
Jan 12, 2016
Jan 12, 2016
Hi People,
What Central Govt. proposes.....State Govt./Opposition disposes...! (GST, Land-Bills, etc.etc.).
Regarding Collective Farming in India...here is the references...
//www.google.co.in/search?q=collective+farming+in+Andhra&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibj7PkzaTKAhXOkY4KHbL1B88QsAQIKQ&biw=1024&bih=487
//www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/agriculture/collective-farming-by-women-in-kerala/article2591995.ece
//smallplanet.org/content/one-million-dalit-women-andhra-pradesh-collectively-farm
What Central Govt. proposes.....State Govt./Opposition disposes...! (GST, Land-Bills, etc.etc.).
Regarding Collective Farming in India...here is the references...
//www.google.co.in/search?q=collective+farming+in+Andhra&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibj7PkzaTKAhXOkY4KHbL1B88QsAQIKQ&biw=1024&bih=487
//www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/agriculture/collective-farming-by-women-in-kerala/article2591995.ece
//smallplanet.org/content/one-million-dalit-women-andhra-pradesh-collectively-farm
PN
Jan 12, 2016
Jan 12, 2016
I am sure Vivek kaul is a very learned person
and i am not an expert in finance & economics, however I find the
articles by vivek very pessimistic about the conditions in india and
another observations about the experts in media are one's who are eager
to adopt anything from the western or other countries without having any
thoughts on what can work in india for indians. I would like to see if
there articles which highlights the success stories in India rather than
painting a sorry picture about us.
SANJEEV KUMAR SINGH
Jan 12, 2016
Jan 12, 2016
A very simplistic suggestion for a complex
problem. I am an employee of a private organisation in power and
infrastructure sector. I can only tell privatisation has led to a very
growth and a few people have become stinking rich at the cost of the
nation. I find private run corporations as very bad in terms of
governance and they are not good in terms of efficiency either. The
decision are made at promoters whims and fancy. They take risk without
considering consequences.They all siphon money at the cost of the
company. When companies goes down due to greed and dacoity of the
promoters, employees only suffer. In such situations I find collectives
unions have been able to bargain some good settlements for the workers. A
few companies / group appears to make effort to make business
sustainable. In my opinion that unbridled privatisation , hire and fire
policy and other retrograde steps suggested by you are nothing a sure
shot recipe for disaster. You cannot justify the such retrograde steps
by citing a few failures. The suggestions are too simplistic and should
be trashed. In my opinion there are many public sector companies which
are far better operated than a private sector. Government airline
company was made to bleed by a private person for his own personal greed
and it has never been run in a professional manner.It depends on the
type of management, the way it is managed and how it cares for its
employee and the society. A private greed definitely is not a solution.
Since you read lot of books , I would suggest you read "At the Helm" by V
Krishnamurthy. It gives lot of insight why a few public sector
companies failed and why others survived. Private run companies are
basically run by individuals or group of individuals who have super
egos, they behave like a feudal lord and learn nothing from their
mistakes . They feel that they and their family members are god
incarnated on earth to run companies. Such people and companies can
never be efficient or adding value to society.
Like (1)
anurag
Jan 11, 2016
Jan 11, 2016
if modi follow advices of the article then we
will face hundred of protest every day in addition to what political
parties are doing in parliament. nevertheless a very valid point has
been brought out
Like (1)
Madhvendra Singh
Jan 11, 2016
Jan 11, 2016
The reason most firms employ only 8 people or
less is because when they come up to ten employees they have to enrol
in the Employees State Insurance Scheme ! Unfortunately this is an
expense most employees do not want to take on.
Like (1)
Sudhir
Jan 11, 2016
Jan 11, 2016
Collectivisation has never been the issue for
India's farmers. Inadequate finance, crop insurance, indebtedness and
skewed markets have been their death knell, quite literally. Even the
green revolution and white revolution beneficiaries, especially in
Punjab too are displaying tendency towards mass suicides. Market forces
are definitely not a boon, especially after the volatility due to
introduction of वायदा in commodity trading.
Like (1)
Girish Patkar
Jan 11, 2016
Jan 11, 2016
T N Ninan has rightly pointed out decisions
which ideally the current government should take. However, I am sure Mr
Ninan understands,that in a democracy where elections are held every 5
years, and where votes are given not on economic performance and
efficient management but on religious and caste considerations ( eg.
Bihar elections ) and where the government is accused to be " Suit boot
ki Sarkar", privatisation of Air India,MTNL etc. and changes in labour
laws will definitely provide more ammunition to the opposition parties
to malign the government.
I am sure, the Government will act at the opportune time !
Girish
I am sure, the Government will act at the opportune time !
Girish
Like (1)
Manoj
Jan 11, 2016
Jan 11, 2016
Even govt should our to business of building
refinery and petrochemical plant. There are very bad history of heavy
cost over run. Batter in place of that govt can give some tax incentive
to privet sector which are very efficient. You can take very good
example of Paradeep refinery , Opal plant in Dahej,
Like (1)
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