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Maoist Economics

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Abstract

During the Maoist era (1949–76), China attempted to adopt Soviet-style central planning in her first Five-Year Plan, but soon changed course. Under the heavy hand of Chairman Mao Zedong, China created a unique style of central planning where the centre enunciated broad policy directives in the form of slogans that could be easily passed down to local cadres, who were given strong incentives to find ways to implement them. This article outlines a consistent framework for analysing the policy changes during the Maoist era and their dramatic impact on the Chinese economy.

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Li, W. (2018). Maoist Economics. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2389

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