Economic Planning in Communist China

Abstract

Planning in any form and Soviet-type planning in particular appear to be perpetual political issues which tend to provoke heated responses from all sides. Therefore, it seems to be appropriate to begin a discussion of economic planning in Communist China by distinguishing between two complementary approaches to the problem. Politically, planning can be analyzed and criticized in terms of its goals. If one can demonstrate that the Chinese Communists adhere to a false image of human goals. one can also reject planning in pursuit of these as an inferior form of organizing human activities in pursuit of human goals.2 Economically, planning can be analyzed and criticized in terms of its efficiency as an instrument of attaining given under given conditions. For this purpose, Chinese Communist planning must be accepted as given, whether or not they are considered to be the true human goals of the Chinese. On this premise, the inquiry must be focused on the ability of the Chinese planners to pursue Chinese Communist in a given state of the Chinese economy, i.e., with given human and other resources as well as against conflicting among the Chinese. Moreover, in dynamic perspective, planning must involve the manipulation of these resources and in the interest of Chinese Communist goal attainment, so that the efficiency problem appears as a problem of political economy.