Market Reform and GDP Reform: Transformation through Measurement

Bolun Zhang, Zhejiang University
Yimang Zhou, Renmin University of China

Gross National Product (GNP) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have long been recognized as key instruments in fostering economic development in China, particularly within the cadre evaluation system often described as a “tournament-style” governance regime. However, the processes through which these metrics were adopted and institutionalized remain underexplored in the literature on China’s post-Mao economic reforms. Existing studies, though limited in number, tend to attribute this transformation either to isomorphic processes driven by institutional diffusion, or to the need of the Chinese state, following shifts in economic governance, to incorporate new factors of production into its statistical system. Drawing on insights from the sociology of expertise and the sociology of knowledge, this study focuses on the early period when economists and political leaders first engaged with the concepts of GNP and GDP. It argues that, beyond standard diffusion-based explanations, the adoption of these indicators was deeply rooted in China’s own intellectual and institutional context. Specifically, it can be traced to debates over the goals of socialist production, as well as to pragmatic, experimental practices of reform—what Barry Naughton describes as “growing out of the plan” through processes of trial and error.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 184. The Chinese Reform as Social Science History (III): Braving the Market Waves