Full Title: The China Model and U.S. Energy Policy
Author(s): Lee Lane
Publisher(s): Hudson Institute
Publication Date: November 1, 2012
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Description (excerpt):
This paper will contend that, with a stress on green energy or without one, China presents, not a better economic model, but a cautionary tale. My argument covers five points. First, for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) the task of maintaining high GDP growth rates will become increasingly difficult. Second, China’s institutions display deep flaws that, if not corrected, will make sustaining high growth harder still. Third, far from being a world leader in energy policy, the PRC has a very mixed record in the field, and its successes have come in spite of its institutions, rather than because of them. Fourth, while the PRC needs economic reform, the Party-state is likely to resist it. Fifth, for the United States, imitating Beijing’s dirigiste energy policies produces the same kind of wasteful patronage politics that plagues the PRC.