Africa Economic Brief

2018 l VOLUME 9 l ISSUE 2

VICE PRESIDENCY FOR ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE
AND KOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Industrialization: Lessons from China for North Africa

Justin Yifu Lin1

H ow can developing economies escape from the trap of

middle- or low-income status in which the majority has
been for decades? Drawing lessons from the experiences of
distortions to develop advanced industries, resulting in
misallocation of resources, rent-seeking and corruption, and
causing economic stagnation, frequent crises and a widening
China, this piece argues that an economically successful of the gap with high-income countries.
country must have the market as its foundation with, on top
of that, the state playing an active, facilitating role. After the 1970s, “neoliberalism” became the new mainstream
set of ideas in development economics, emphasizing
It is a dream for every developing country to become a government failures. This view advocated the use of “shock
modern, industrialized, high-income country. Yet among therapy” to implement the “Washington consensus” reform
nearly 200 developing economies after the Second World privatizing, “marketizing”, stabilizing and liberalizing so as to
War, so far only two the Republic of Korea and Taiwan, China eliminate government interventions and distortions, and to
have grown from low- to high-income. China may become establish a well-functioning market system similar to that in
the third by 2025. developed countries.

Among the 101 middle-income economies in 1960, only 13 For socialist and other developing countries that adopted this
became high income by 2008. Of the 13, eight were transition strategy, the results were economic collapse,
European countries, which had a smaller income gap at the stagnation and frequent crises. Economic performance was
beginning, or oil-producing countries. The other five were worse than before the transition. For the few successful
Japan and four small East Asian economies: Hong Kong, economies after the Second World War, their common feature
China; Singapore; Republic of Korea; and Taiwan, China. was to have not only an “efficient market” but also an
“effective state” in their economic development and transition.
Why Are So Many Developing Economies Trapped
in Middle or Low-income Status? Why Is It Important to Have an Efficient Market?

The primary reason is because most of them followed This is because the development of industries and adoption
Western mainstream economic theories to form their of technology according to a country’s comparative
development and transition strategies and failed to maintain advantage, as determined by its factor endowments, is a
a balance between the market and the state. Emerging after precondition for industry to develop competitive advantages
the Second World War, the first edition of development in domestic and international markets. Enterprises pursue
economics structuralism emphasized market failures and profits. Only if relative factor prices reflect relative factor
advised the government to mobilize and allocate resources scarcities in endowments will enterprises choose their
directly to develop large-scale, capital-intensive industries technologies and industries according to the comparative
similar to those in high income countries. The intention was advantages determined by factor endowments. Such relative
respectable. The strategy relied on market interventions and prices will exist only if the market is competitive.

1 Justin Yifu Lin is the Dean of the Institute of New Structural Economics at Peking University. He is also the Dean of the Institute of South-South Cooperation
and Development, and the Honorary Dean of National School of Development at Peking University.

Disclaimer: The findings of this Brief reflect the opinions of the authors and not those of the African Development Bank,its Board of Directors or the
countries they represent.

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Why Is It Also Important to Have an Effective State? comprehensive assessment of the country’s basic realities
and conditions, including its development stage as well as its
This is because economic development is a process of conti- natural resources, labour and capital endowments, and key
nuous structural transformation in technological innovation, problems and their origins.
industrial upgrading and improvement in hard infrastructure
and soft institutions. It is essential to have “first movers” in What it means to understand others correctly is to have a
technological innovation and industrial upgrading. The govern- systematic analysis of countries at different development
ment needs to compensate for the first movers’ externalities stages and types, and to have an objective assessment of the
and uncertainties. The success of first movers also depends relations, differences and complementarities between oneself
on improvements in related infrastructure and institutions, and other countries. It is especially important to have a careful
which is beyond individual entrepreneurs’ capacity and which study of the comparative advantages and features of the
needs the government to coordinate enterprises to make the development stage of one’s own country and other countries
improvements, or to provide them itself. and not to copy simplistically other countries, especially the
theories, policies and experiences from developed countries
Only with the market and the state playing their roles will with conditions different from one’s own.
technological innovation and industrial upgrading proceed
smoothly according to changes in comparative advantage Second, it is important to have economic development and
during economic development. Therefore, an economically transition strategies suitable for one’s own country. There
successful country must have the market as its foundation are many dimensions of such strategies, including the use
with the state playing an active, facilitating role. of industrial policy. Technological innovation and industrial
upgrading are necessary for a developing country’s
China’s Experience development.

China was a poor country with a per capita GDP less than The upgraded industry needs to be consistent with the
one third of Sub- Saharan Africa countries’ average before comparative advantage determined by a country’s factor
economic reform and opening up in 1979. Since then, China endowments so as to make the firms in the industry have the
has achieved an average annual growth rate of 9.6%. The lowest factor costs of production in the country and
country is the only emerging market economy not to have elsewhere in the world. But transaction costs for firms in a
suffered a systemic financial and economic crisis. developing country are generally high due to imperfections in
infrastructure, the business environment and legal institutions.
An important reason for China’s success is that it did not
follow the Washington consensus. Instead of shock therapy, It is necessary to reduce firms’ transaction costs to increase
China adopted a pragmatic, dual-track approach. On the one their market competitiveness. It is the government’s respon-
hand, it provided continuously transitory protection and sibility to improve infrastructure, the business environment
subsidies to large scale, capital-intensive state owned and legal institutions. But its resources are limited and,
enterprises, which violated China’s comparative advantages therefore, they should be used strategically to improve
but were essential for national defense and people’s basic infrastructure and other binding constraints in suitable
needs. On the other, it liberalized private and foreign firms’ locations so as to reduce transaction costs for the targeted
entry to China’s comparative advantage industries, with the industries to turn from comparative advantages to
state facilitating the industries to become the nation’s competitive advantages quickly.
competitive advantages in domestic and international markets
by overcoming bottlenecks in hard and soft infrastructure. In this way, small wins can be accumulated to become large
wins. With vibrant economic development, the improvement
The rapid development, fast accumulation of capital, and of infrastructure, the business environment and legal
quick change of comparative advantages enabled those institutions can be extended step by step nationwide.
industries, which went against China’s comparative
advantages originally, to become the country’s comparative Third, it is important to learn lessons from the mistakes of
advantages. These three elements also provided the both the excessive intervention advocated by structuralism
conditions for the government to deepen reforms, remove and the laisser-faire advocated by neoliberalism, and to have
protections and subsidies, and allow the market to play a the market and state play their essential roles in economic
decisive role in resource allocation. development and transition.

Three Lessons for Other Developing Countries New Structural Economics

China’s economic development and transition provide three In recent years, reflecting on the weaknesses of structuralism
lessons for other developing countries. and neoliberalism, I have advocated “the new structural
economics” (Lin, 2012a, 2012b; and Lin and Monga, 2017),
First, it is important to be pragmatic and realistic. It is essential which is generalized from the success and failure of China’s
to have a good understanding of oneself and correct and other developing countries’ development and transition.
understanding of others that is, to have an objective and From the perspective of the new structural economics, the

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secret of China’s success is its use of the “invisible hand” and It is essential to have
the “visible hand”, forming an organic integration, comple-
“first movers” in technological
mentarity and mutual improvement of the functions of the
market and the state. innovation and industrial
upgrading. The success of first
The applicability of a theory generalized from a country to movers also depends on
other countries depends on the similarity of preconditions in
improvements in related
the country and the other countries. I hope, due to the
similarity of preconditions in developing countries, that the infrastructure and institutions,
new structural economics will provide useful insights for which is beyond individual
developing countries in the Middle East and North Africa for entrepreneurs’ capacity
overcoming development challenges on the road ahead.
and which needs
In A Nutshell the government to coordinate
enterprises to make
The secret of China’s success lies its use of both the “invisible the improvements,
hand” and the “visible hand”.
or to provide them itself.
It is important to learn from the mistakes of both excessive
intervention and neoliberal laisser-faire: both the market and
the state must play their essential roles in economic New structural economics can provide useful insights for
development and transition. developing countries in the Middle East and North Africa.

Further Reading

Lin, Justin Yifu (2012a). New Structural Economics: A Framework for Rethinking Development and Policy, World Bank.

Lin, Justin Yifu (2012b). The Quest for Prosperity: How Developing Economies Can Take Off, Princeton University Press.

Lin, Justin Yifu and Celestin Monga (2017). Beating the Odds: Jumpstarting Developing Countries, Princeton
University Press.

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