-"an account of the collision of two forces: aspiration and authoritarianism"

Having explored Egypt in The Buried, we now turn our focus to China, which has an extremely different economic and political institutional environment. We do this again by focusing on lived experiences.

Winner of the National Book Award and part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team for investigative reporting, Evans Osnos spent eight years living in Beijing, witnessing the changes occurring from 2005-2013. The selected excerpts from Age of Ambition – Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith inthe New China capture the ways in which state institutions in China have fueled economic growth while also imposing limits on broader opportunity.

Main Themes:

1. Paradox of Chinese Reforms: Despite official suspicion of individualism, China enacted core free-market ideas.
2. Embracing Market Principles (Under New Labels): Early reformers like Wu Jinglian, despite a background in orthodox socialism, became leading experts on the free market, necessitated by economic realities.
3. Mass Migration and Labor: China's growth relied on "abundant cheap labor and a surge of investment in factories and infrastructure." The relaxation of the hukou system in 1985 permitted temporary rural-to-urban migration, fueling this labor supply.
4. Rise of Individualism and Self-Reliance: Companies actively promoted individualistic messages. Even in rural areas, teachers prepared students for a world requiring "self-reliance, self-promotion, and the self-made individual."
5. The "Got Rich First Crowd" (xianfu qunti): The emergence of a wealthy class led to new societal dynamics.
6. New Class Distinctions and Identities: The return of class led to a society actively defining new archetypes
7. Changing Aspirations: The shift from traditional village views to independence and personal choice.
8. Co-opting the Wealthy: The Party saw the return of class as an "opportunity" to buttress itself against democracy.
9. Ideological Contortions: To reconcile its Marxist-Leninist roots with the new reality, Jiang Zemin in 2002 avoided "middle class" but declared dedication to the "New Middle-Income Stratum."
10. Shift from "Revolutionary Party" to "Party in Power": A constitutional change in 2002 saw the Party stop calling itself a "revolutionary party," becoming "ardent defenders of the status quo."
11. Technocratic Rule and Lack of Personality: Leaders embodied the belief that "development is the only hard truth." The Party deliberately suppressed cults of personality, presenting a "tableau of conformity".
12. Party vs. Society: Despite the Party becoming "more homogenous, buttoned-down, and conservative," Chinese society was simultaneously "becoming more diverse, raucous, and freewheeling."
13. The "Grand Bargain": The Wenzhou train crash symbolized the fragility of "the grand bargain of modern Chinese politics in the era after socialism: allow the Party to reign unchallenged as long as it was reasonably competent." The crash "violated the deal".
14. Corruption: The crash's underlying problems were tied to "graft, fraud, embezzlement, and patronage." The signal system that failed was rushed through development and had "grave flaws and major hidden dangers."
15. Broader Infrastructure Failures: The crash was not isolated; parts of "the new China had been built too fast for their own good," leading to other collapses.
16. Pervasiveness of Corruption: Corruption functions through "unwritten rules" and personal connections.
17. "Protective Umbrellas" and "Mafiazation": Officials and businessmen formed networks, creating "protective umbrellas," described by scholars as the "Mafiazation" of the state.
18. Impact on Public Services: Corruption directly impacted public safety and services.
19. Economic Impact Debated: Optimists argue corruption is a transition phase enabling growth, citing infrastructure achievements. Others are less optimistic, pointing to low prosecution rates (3-6% of wrongdoers) and comparing China's corruption to "anarchy".

-"There's no nizam"

We've relied heavily on real-time economic data to understand short-term economic trends & policy decisions. When exploring long-term economic growth, perspectives focused on lived experiences can show how institutions shape what feel possible, what talents are used, & what futures seem worth pursuing.

MacArthur fellow and finalist for the National Book Award, Peter Hessler, spent a decade living in China, chronicling the country’s growth through the lives of ordinary citizens. In 2011, he and his family moved to Cairo during the Arab Spring. The selected excerpts from, The Buried, An Archeology of the Egyptian Revolution, focuses on the experiences of ordinary Egyptian citizens to provide insights into how institutions, culture, & history intertwine in Egypt to shape individual lives, choices, & opportunities.

Main Themes:

1. The Role of Institutions: How formal & informal institutions (government, social etiquette, family) shape opportunities, talent utilization, and future aspirations.
2. Cultural and Historical Context: The deep influence of historical legacies (e.g., pharaonic history, colonialism, past revolutions) and cultural norms (e.g., politeness, "evil eye," lack of nizam) on contemporary Egyptian society.
3. Informal Systems and Adaptability: The emergence and function of informal economic & social systems (e.g., ashwa'iyat, zabaleen, wasta, family-based politics) in the absence of effective formal governance.
4. The Arab Spring's Impact: The revolution's initial promise of change versus the realities of institutional inertia and the unexpected consequences of political participation without strong institutional frameworks.
5. Contrasting Egypt with China: A recurring comparison that highlights differences in national priorities, economic development strategies, social norms, approaches to modernization, and rural-to-urban migration patterns.
6. Family Structures: The pervasive influence of family in Egypt, often superseding formal government institutions &political parties.

Excerpt Sections:

1. Introduction: Introduces the Abydos archaeological dig as a microcosm and highlights the initial disconnect between the Arab Spring in Cairo and more remote areas.
2. There's No Nizam: Explores the concept of nizam (system/order) and its perceived absence in Egypt, contrasting Egyptian and Chinese structure. Introduces wasta and its static nature compared to Chinese guanxi.
3. The Abydos Rayis: Details the local impact of the Arab Spring in Abydos, focusing on the practical, localized nature of governance in the absence of systematic administration.
4. Ashwa'iyat: Describes Cairo's informal settlements, highlighting how they grew without formal planning but provided functional, if illegal, housing. Highlights how informal local initiatives can fill governance gaps.
5. Tamarrod: Focuses on the Tamarrod petition campaign against Morsi & the widespread disillusionment with formal politics. Introduces the concept of a "praetorian state" where participation outruns institutionalization.
6. This Tiny Place called Connections: Explores how geographic factors &cultural traditions (family ties, ancestral villages) shape migration patterns & urban integration differently in Egypt vs China.
7. 100k Miles in a Renault Sedan: Uses the example of a Chinese entrepreneur in Egypt to illustrate practical challenges of business in an unsystematic environment.
8. Dawar Politics: Describes the informal, family- and clan-based nature of local elections in Abydos, where the family is the primary political structure vs formal parties or issues.
9. The "Deep State": Reinforces the importance of family structures in Egypt, directing votes and shaping social interactions.
10. The Abydos Rayis Revisited: Reinforces the ongoing nature of informal governance & police presence, emphasizing the unpredictability and contributing to a sense of political stagnation and a return to familiar patterns after the initial revolutionary fervor.

Our focus in Module 5 turns towards factors that affect the long-term growth rates, which are central to understanding industry transformation, poverty rates, and, in many cases, why nations fail.

To prepare for Module 5, we recap Chapter 3 from Why Nations Fail by Nobel Prize winners Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson, establishing that long-term economic growth depends on a country's institutions: the formal and informal structures that constrain individual behavior in a society.

Main Themes:

1. Economic Institutions are structures that specifically shape incentives to pursue education, invest, innovate, trade, and accumulate capital. These include Infrastructure, Access to Economic Gains, Education, Centralized Power, Rule of Law, Corruption (for Economic Gain), and Property Rights.
2. Inclusive Economic Institutions are structures that allow and encourage participation by the great mass of people in economic activities that make the best use of their talents and enable them to engage in economic pursuits. Key characteristics include broad distribution of power and opportunity, secure property rights for the everyone, a level playing field for economic activity, freedom to choose careers, and a capable state that provides public services and enforces order.
3. Extractive Economic Institutions are structures (or lack thereof) that prevent participation by the great mass of people in economic activities that make the best use of their talents and prevent them from engaging in economic pursuits, giving benefits to a select few at the expense of the masses. Key characteristics include the concentration of power and opportunity to an elite, extraction of incomes and wealth from one part of society to benefit another, lack of widespread property rights, limited economic choices for the general populace, and state power often used to benefit the elite rather than providing public services for general prosperity.
4. Political Institutions are the structures that determine how power is distributed and exercised, determining who holds political power, what decisions can be made and by whom, and how power is constrained.
5. Inclusive Political Institutions are structures that disperse power across a great mass of people and place constraints on the exercise of power. Key characteristics include a broad distribution of political power, limits on the exercise of power, citizen participation in political decision-making, and the rule of law applied equally.
6. Extractive Political Institutions are structures (or lack thereof) that concentrate power in the hands of a narrow elite and place few constraints on the exercise of this power. Key characteristics include the concentration of power in a narrow elite, few limits on the exercise of this power, limited or manipulated political participation, selectively enforced laws, and state power often maintained through force.
7. Extractive Elites are individuals or groups with some political power who support policies detrimental to widespread economic growth because reforming existing institutions would negatively affect their personal well-being. Extractive elites do not need to be wealthy. Anyone whose well-being would be negatively impacted by a change from the status quo who possesses some ability to obstruct progress (e.g., through bloc voting), can be considered an extractive elite.
8. Economic and Political Institutions interact and evolve to become self-reinforcing. In a Virtuous Cycle, inclusive economic institutions ensure wealth is dispersed, preventing a wealthy elite from dominating politics. And the inclusive political institutions that then form ensure extractive economic institutions are dismantled. In a Vicious Circle, extractive economic institutions enrich the elite, who use their wealth to ensure political dominance. And these individuals with political power then ensure extractive economic institutions are maintained to benefit themselves.