PT Unknown
AU Dai, S
TI China’s Idiosyncratic Economics: An Emerging Unknown Monism Driven by Pluralism
SE Working Papers on East Asian Studies
PY 2017
VL 111
DI 10.17185/duepublico/48151
LA en
DE China’s Idiosyncratic Economics; Pluralism in Economics Education; Monism; Marxian Political Economy
AB China’s economics education started at the beginning of the 20th century, when China was learning
from the Western civilization, and accordingly economics curriculum system was introduced as well.
As the communist government was established in 1949, economics education in China was interrupted,
started to follow a conventional Marxism, and almost acted as ideological education approach and
as a tool to economic plan. The fundamental economic reform from 1980s brought modern economics
back to China, and from 1990s, economists who were educated in Europe and the USA introduced
Western Economics, of which majority are neoliberalism, to China’s Universities, and the popular economics
textbooks and curriculum prevailed in China as well. This made the existing socialism economics
education struggling in the research evaluation and classroom, although the Communist Party
still is giving strong support to Marxism. The 2005 debate between Marxist and Neoliberalism actually
reflected two monism tried to lead whole China’s economics education.
A hidden issue behind the learning from the West is that China’s economists are keeping pursuing an
approach based on China’s reality, which in particular has been reinforced by the recent impressive
economic success. Generally, China’s economists have a common sense of that China did not follow
a single economic theory to lead its reform and development, and believe that China’s success can
contribute to economics, although none tells what is a China’s idiosyncratic economics. Hence, an
unknown monism might be emerging in China, but pluralism may act as a channel for understanding
Chinese economy, and accordingly be the essential parts of China’s idiosyncrasy economics, which
will be a new monism.
ER