Abstract
Decentralization entails a shift of decision-making power from the top toward the bottom of the hierarchy. Centralization or recentralization is, naturally, defined by the reverse process. In a three-level hierarchy, the outcomes of decentralization or recentralization can be complicated by the presence of the intermediatory levels. Such has been the case in China where economic and social change in the 1980s involved three hierarchical levels: enterprises, local governments, and the central government. The interactions among these parties and the associated problems merit study, not only for their immediate relevance to China’s economic reform, but also for their relevance to the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, since reforms in these countries are also characterized by shifts of power among multi-level hierarchies.
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Chen, K. (1991). The Failure of Recentralization in China: Interplays among Enterprises, Local Governments and the Center. In: Hillman, A.L. (eds) Markets and Politicians. Studies in Public Choice, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3882-6_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3882-6_11
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