S&T policies and technical progress in China's industry

Abstract

This paper explores some aspects of China's strive for accelerating the rate of technical progress taking place in its economy. The first part analyses the evolution of the Chinese R&D system. On one hand there is a drive towards the commercialization and decentralization, and on the other hand increased emphasis is being put on a new generation of national research programmes. The efficiency of China's R&D had increased, but a major reorientation of resources towards research activities has yet to materialize. The second part focuses on the reform of public industrial enterprises. As a result of the boom of collective-owned enterprises and of the partial improvements in the state-owned sub-sector, in which property relations are undergoing major changes, the innovative capacity and the technological level of Chinese public industry have advanced markedly. The growth in total factor productivity and the evolution in the export structure suggest that substantial technical progress has been taking place. The paper concludes that China's experience so far shows that a radical improvement in a socialist economy's ability to achieve technical progress is not inconsistent with the reaffirmation, in a new and diversified form, of a fundamentally public framework of property relations.