17 May 2023

China Hit 300 Year Plus Lows In Per Capita GDP Twice During Maoism

China’s GDP per capita hit its lowest point in the past 300 years under Maoism. Twice.

The first time was during the civil war and the second was the Great Leap Forward.

Via Marginal Revolution. 

Maybe the Chinese "economic miracle" is simply due to the fact that until 1975, it had just been recovering to the point that it first reached in 1700 CE, and it hasn't had a "Great Depression" (as I predicted it would), because it is still recovering from a pair of them in the late-20th century. 

China has also been able to imitate successes in the developed world, instead of innovating in the first instance, to advance technologically (which isn't to say that it hasn't also innovated to some extent), which also makes rapid economic growth easier.

Economically, Maoist Communism has, nonetheless, far outperformed feudal monarchism under European colonial influence and has been competitive with a Western democratic capitalist model.

China's GDP per capita as of 2021 was $12,566 USD.

China's per capita GDP has grown at an after inflation rate of about 3.9% per year since its $800 current USD low point during the Chinese civil war which ended in 1949. 

Since the end of the Great Leap Forward in 1962, when China's per capita GDP has fallen to about $875 current USD after a brief spurt after its Civil War that was largely reversed, China's per capita GDP has grown at a basically uninterrupted after inflation rate of about 4.6% per year for 59 straight years (and this has probably continued since 2021).

There are signs that China's economy is starting to stumble, however.