From a Western perspective, the Chinese crackdown on tech companies is a sign of an authoritarian state imposing its will on the market economy. To a certain extent, such an assessment is correct, but it prevents us from gaining an understanding of how Chinese capitalism continues to be a successful system. In his book Capitalism, Alone the economist Branko Milanovic explains that although capitalism has emerged victorious from the post-Cold War period, it has split into two models: “liberal meritocratic capitalism” (e.g. the U.S.) and “political capitalism” (e.g. China). In political capitalism, the state is autonomous, which means the absence of the rule of law is a necessary condition for capitalism to be successful.It follows that the interest of the state will prevail over the interest of the market. Simply put, the law may not protect private companies against the state. This does not suggest an absence of capitalism, but rather a different ‘variety’ of capitalism. It is likely that the current crackdown will intensify before it abates, but beyond that, it is important to see that China has a different model for successful capitalism: the state will redirect the private sector to produce innovation that is more relevant to the good life, create sustainable growth and foster social stability.
