Despite this, it discriminates heavily against foreign investors. Its public finances are precarious, with records of government loan defaults that worry foreign investors. The country has never recruited a single civil servant through an open, competitive process. Corruption is rampant, with political parties selling government jobs to their financial backers. The majority of the population cannot vote, and vote-buying and electoral fraud are widespread. The country has a large number of state-owned enterprises, many of which make large losses but are propped up by subsidies and government-granted monopoly rights.Ĭountry B: The country’s trade policy has literally been the most protectionist in the world for the last few decades, with an average industrial tariff rate at 40–55 per cent. In particular, its protection of intellectual property rights is weak, making it the pirate capital of the world. It has opaque and complicated property rights. The country has no elections and is riddled with corruption. Foreign firms producing in the country complain that they are discriminated against through differential taxes and regulations by local governments. The country has heavy restrictions on cross-border flows of capital, a state-owned and highly regulated banking sector, and numerous restrictions on foreign ownership of financial assets. Despite the recent tariff reduction, important visible and invisible trade restrictions remain. What would you say?Ĭountry A: Until a decade ago, the country was highly protectionist, with an average industrial tariff rate well above 30 per cent. You are an economic analyst trying to assess their development prospects. Here are the profiles of two developing countries. Free-market policies have made few countries rich so far and will make few rich in the future. With only a few exceptions, all of today’s rich countries, including Britain and the US – the supposed homes of free trade and free market – have become rich through the combinations of protectionism, subsidies and other policies that today they advise the developing countries not to adopt. Moreover, it is also not true that almost all rich countries have become rich through free-market policies. There were some spectacular failures of state intervention, but most of these countries grew much faster, with more equitable income distribution and far fewer financial crises, during the ‘bad old days’ than they have done in the period of market-oriented reforms. Thing 7: Free-market Policies Rarely Make Poor Countries RichĬontrary to what is commonly believed, the performance of developing countries in the period of state-led development was superior to what they have achieved during the subsequent period of market-oriented reform. The following is an excerpt from University of Cambridge economist Ha-Joon Chang's recent book, 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism. Do Free Market Policies Lead to Economic Stagnation?
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