Rent Seeking in China

[Frank de Jong]

The leveling off or slowdown or decline of China's economic performance is fingered as the cause of the world economic slump, the drop in price of oil...

Georgists have often said that since China owns all land and resources and leases it to citizens, with all economic rent automatically reverting to the state, it should be a model Georgist state.

So what happened, what's wrong?

If you google -- China economic rent -- you'll find out. 

One of the books that come up, Rent Seeking in China, explains that the difference between the real price of something and the Chinese official price is economic rent, and people scrambling to appropriate this wealth for themselves is the cause of the economic malaise. Interesting, eh.

Frank