Local government, enterprises and individuals: Economic transformation in the pearl river delta

Abstract

The Pearl River (Zhujiang) Delta (PRD) has been a focal point in reform era academic circles not only for its dramatic industrial growth but also the simultaneous agricultural development. Unlike most of existing research on the PRD economic development and transformation from the whole region level, this paper explored this question from the perspective of a township using Beijiao in Shunde City as a case study. Unlike the conclusions of existing studies which attribute the regional economic transition to the macro factors, particularly the influence of external investment, this research reveals that at the level of township, the local government, the town-village owned enterprises and the individuals have been playing remarkable roles in local economic transformation. In the early stage since the economic reform, Beijiao township government, replacing the central and provincial governments before, began to manipulate the development of town-village owned enterprises and lead the local economic transformation from agricultural to industrial dominated. As the town-village owned enterprises grew during the later years, they gradually acted as the main dominant player leading the local agricultural and industrial growth. At the same time the individuals in Beijiao were playing more independent role to gain their most profits. While the local government changed to be the real manager of local economies. So the local economic transition was not entirely externally driven. In another word, the “driven from outside” model can not totally explain the economic fact in this specific region.