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How Exceptional Is China’s Crony-Capitalist Boom?
A longstanding consensus holds that Western industrialized economies achieved their unprecedented levels of prosperity only by eradicating corruption, and that modern China's rapid GDP growth therefore breaks the mold. But a clear-eyed appraisal of American history shows that China is not so unique after all.
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WASHINGTON, DC – Even as it grapples with a slowdown, the Chinese economy has come a remarkably long way. Since embracing capitalism in the 1980s, China has leaped from being one of the world’s poorest countries to its second-largest economy. Even more remarkably, it has done so despite a relentless string of corruption scandals. Economist Paolo Mauro calls China a “gigantic outlier” for its combination of breakneck growth and widespread corruption.