The divergent fortunes of Russia and China in the 1990s reflect that Russia had massive de jure change but little de facto change in operations, while China had little de jure change but large de facto change—especially fiscal decentralization (Weingast's 'fiscal federalism, Chinese style') where enterprises kept surpluses and kicked back to the center, generating rapid growth.

causalpending

Speaker

Peter Boettke

Evidence Quote

the fiscal system has so decentralized in China that you have here through these special economic zones the way that they've changed the tax system... as a result you get this great economic growth whereas in Russia they continued to have centralized fiscal system

Source

Peter Boettke on Hurricane Katrina and the Economics of Disaster 12/18/2006EconTalk
Created: 6/17/2026, 10:29:22 AM

My Notes

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