Les entreprises rurales et développement régional en République populaire de Chine. Partie 1 : le contexte institutionnel et les réformes économiques

Abstract

This paper tries to analyse the consequences of the economic reforms on local economies in China. It shows that the two main reforms —the household responsibility system and the decentralisation— gave the districts the potential in experiencing an important development, but meanwhile, that the power gained by local authorities has provoked the appearance of new risks and uncertainties. The non-recognition of the property rights, and the local authorities’ position of control can explain this ambiguity, because these authorities are the ones that give access (or not) to production factors. The risks are also due to a different conception of the enterprise, which is not only a location for production and profit, but also for redistribution. Finally, this central position of local authorities explains the cellular nature of the Chinese economy and implies to resort to a territorial and network analysis.