It has become an article of faith among many economists that China's pro-market reforms of the 1980s and 1990s ushered in a sustained reduction in poverty.
  • Arete@lemmy.worldEnglish
    555·
    1 year ago

    This article is a classic “find some stats to back up my political position” nonsense. They admit that the world bank findings directly contradict what they want and so redefine “purchasing power parity” to suit their needs. Apparently a more socialist weighing of “basic needs” better suits an argument for socialism? Then they make the somewhat bizarre assertion that socialist China had better life expectancy and infant mortality than Indonesia, Brazil, and India at that time. Maybe that’s true, but wtf does it have to do with the merits of socialism?

  • PugJesus@kbin.social
    332·
    1 year ago

    Yeah, you’re gonna have to count me pretty fucking skeptical that the poor in China in 1981 were better off than the poor in China today.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.worldEnglish
      22·
      1 year ago

      Not saying the lives of many haven’t improved. But outside the major cities/provinces. For many, little has changed. Definitely not for the better. Even as the party has enriched themselves. Building opulent terminals for high speed ghost rail lines etc.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        1 year ago

        Not saying the lives of many haven’t improved. But outside the major cities/provinces. For many, little has changed.

        Are you missing the fact that over 278 million Chinese people move out of the rural areas to those cities to take part in the prosperity?

        Here’s the data to back it up: source

        Rural population of China in 1981:

        Rural population in of China 2022:

    • Critical_Insight@feddit.ukEnglish
      214·
      1 year ago

      I don’t hear anyone making that claim. If 40 years ago say 30% of your population could barely afford food and today it’s only 5% it still very much sucks for that 5% but it’s still objectively better for there to be less super poor people than before.

    • RedditWanderer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      174·
      1 year ago

      /r/sino

      So happy i can freely type that now. On Reddit if you mention that sub they remove it/ban you for brigading.

  • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    We find extreme poverty increased dramatically during the market reforms of the 1990s. It reached a peak of 68% as price deregulation pushed up the cost of basic food and housing, cutting the buying power of low-income people.

    Lol, their point is that China doesn’t do enough socialism. Which is fair, especially for the healthcare