Capital accumulation and beyond in post-Covid China Zhun Xu

China has enjoyed a long period of economic growth but has also accumulated a number of long-term economic and social problems. In particular, since the mid-2010s, China’s unique mix of neoliberal policies and state intervention and regulation seems to increasingly lose its effectiveness, as capital accumulation and economic growth remarkably slow down. China is at an important crossroads now as the pandemic makes many long-term challenges more acute. This paper starts with an analysis of the characteristics of capital accumulation in China and explores the causes of such a dramatic slowdown. In the context of the so-called debt-driven growth, this paper discusses the political and economic factors that prevent a major fiscal expansion in China. Then the paper goes beyond capital accumulation and discusses the issues of social equity as well as the urgent environmental/ecological challenges. To address the challenges from capital accumulation and beyond, the paper argues that China needs to move away from deregulation and supply-side doctrines and start a large scale public investment plan based on ecological principles and free from profit motives.

01_2022 (Download the full text in PDF format)