Introduction of the Household Responsibility System in Contemporary China

Meng, Gaofeng

Abstract

This article contributes to the debate regarding the origin of the Household Responsibility System (HRS) in rural China. We argue that the HRS is a social and political construction which is not merely a response to underlying economic forces. Its evolution shows the significant role of politics in shaping economic performance through defining and enforcing economic rules. The establishment of HRS is neither topdown nor bottom-up. In contrast, it is an interaction between peasants, local officials, and central authorities. This article investigates the political process of the institutionalization of the HRS from its inception—the experiment of Xiaogang village in 1978—which solved the competing interests of the state, local authorities and peasants. The origin of the development of HRS property rights can be traced to a group of Chinese peasants who sought to improve their lives and manage the rules and regulations to which they were bound. The local authorities and later central government were convinced to support this radical change from the Commune System because of its positive economic and social effects, promoting spectacular economic growth and a massive reduction in rural poverty. This research, modelling China’s polities in the evolution of the HRS is an attempt to contribute to the new political economy (institutional economics applied to politics) that has been largely focused on the United States. A better understanding of the reform process in China and its varied consequences may be useful for the analysis and critique of reform efforts in developing countries that are in earlier or similar stages of rural transformation.

Citation

Meng, G. Introduction of the Household Responsibility System in Contemporary China. London

• Working Paper Type: Working Paper
• Deposit Date: Jun 2, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 2, 2024
• Pages: 1-25
• Series ISSN: 27553795
• Keywords: The Household Responsibility System, Wan Li, Deng Xiaoping, Xiaogang villager’s ; experimen
• Publisher URL: https://www.soas.ac.uk/about/schools-and-departments/school-law-gender-and-media/soas-working-papers-law-gender-and-media
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Acknowledgements: I am very grateful to Tony Crow and Pauline Walter for their helpful comments, editing and proofreading in improving this article. All mistakes are mine. I am also grateful to my students at the SOAS University of London for their questions in my lecturing regarding the China’s rural land system, in particular the HRS.; References : References Alchian, Armen A. 1950. “Uncertainty, Evolution, and Economic Theory.” Journal of Political Economy 58 (3): 211–21. Bates, Robert H. and Steven A. Blockb, Ghada Fayadc and Anke Hoefflerd. 2013. “The New Institutionalism and Africa.” Journal of African Economies 22 (4): 499-522. Bo, J. 2007. Wei nongye dabangan baohukou de ren: Wang Yuzhao (Wang Yuzhao: The Persons Who Applied for a Permit of the All-Around Contract System in Agriculture). Beijing, China: China’s Development Press (Zhongguo fazhan chubanshe). Bunker, Stephen G. 1987. 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