The Economist just hosted a timely debate on state capitalism. I notice that even those who believe state capitalism is a legitimate alternative of liberal capitalism mostly agree that countries of state capitalism tend to have worse problems of cronyism and injustice. The Chinese government has been relying on economic growth to sustain its legitimacy after the Mao era, but now many people are starting to ask why their living standard does not seem to rise with our miraculous GDP numbers. So I believe the government will have to invest more in social programs that help to manufacture public consent. But the innate mechanism of state capitalism determines that these social programs will still end up boosting government-run investment rather than domestic consumption.

China’s Ministry of Finance has just released some data of 2011. In 2011, the total tax income of the Chinese government reached a new record of RMB 10.37 trillion, that’s RMB 9000 tax burden on every Chinese citizen; meanwhile, the average income of Chinese people in 2011 is only RMB 24000 (around USD 4,000).

People on the Bund

The government spent most of its money on fixed asset investment rather than social welfare. This is what has been driving the GDP miracle of Chinese economy. A lot of these fixed asset projects became a way that public money is privatized.  The corruption cases happened in the construction of high-speed railway are prime examples. The wife of the former head of the Ministry of Railway became a billionaire simply by supplying all the toilets for all the bullet trains.  No wonder some people say that, in state capitalism, public property is just the private property of power-holders.