[lbo-talk] Superprofits

[Michael Dawson -PSU]

Why was the Soviet elite so corrupt(ible),
> and the Chinese not?
>
> Doug

Great question.  My guess is some combination of:
- capitalist road being taken within the CCP/without political parties that
would have invited in the IMF
- China having watched Japan from next-door and learned the proper lesson
(see Baran, _Political Economy of Growth_): success requires strong early
state incubation
- the lack of the Yeltsinists' Europeanist illusion that long noses, white
skins, round eyes, and close histories would get them a ticket into Bohemian
Grove
- the more rural nature of China, which reduces unrest over industrial
restructuring
- China's comparative lack of industrial and retail bosses wanting to
convert the factories and stores they managed immediately into personal
property
- fewer illusions about the dispensability of a strong state in a land of 1
billion people