This is fair, although I take Richard’s point below as well. (I’m not sure about its truth, because I don’t know enough about China or Africa.)
I think the point is that there are two points
Poverty in China has decreased recently
Poverty in Africa has (arguably) increased recently
(Hickel claims that China’s very non-neoliberal policy enriched its people, while African countries’ mandated structural adjustments impoverished its people. I don’t know enough to say if this is true, but it’s another reason Hickel excludes China.)
Hickel claims that China’s very non-neoliberal policy enriched its people
China’s post-1979 reforms are one of the textbook examples of neoliberalism! They privatized many businesses, allowed the creation of markets for many goods and services, opened up to international trade and reduced capital controls. While there is still a great deal of central control, the level is dramatically lower than it was in the 1970s. Their economic freedom ranking improved from a terrible 3.59 in 1980 to a respectable (though still not great) 6 in 2002, a very rapid rise. This is a similar increase to other countries undergoing neoliberal reforms at the same time, like the UK, Chile and Sweden, though many of these started from a higher base.
EDIT: Unless you are talking about the One Child Policy, which I would agree is very non-neoliberal, and is a major policy.
The ‘freedom to trade internationally’ composite, which is basically not-being-protectionist, saw one of the largest improvements of any of their scores over this time. They are still protectionist relative to many richer countries, like the JV requirements. But they are dramatically less protectionist than they used to be, and this change coincided with / preceded their dramatic growth.
This is fair, although I take Richard’s point below as well. (I’m not sure about its truth, because I don’t know enough about China or Africa.)
I think the point is that there are two points
Poverty in China has decreased recently
Poverty in Africa has (arguably) increased recently
(Hickel claims that China’s very non-neoliberal policy enriched its people, while African countries’ mandated structural adjustments impoverished its people. I don’t know enough to say if this is true, but it’s another reason Hickel excludes China.)
China’s post-1979 reforms are one of the textbook examples of neoliberalism! They privatized many businesses, allowed the creation of markets for many goods and services, opened up to international trade and reduced capital controls. While there is still a great deal of central control, the level is dramatically lower than it was in the 1970s. Their economic freedom ranking improved from a terrible 3.59 in 1980 to a respectable (though still not great) 6 in 2002, a very rapid rise. This is a similar increase to other countries undergoing neoliberal reforms at the same time, like the UK, Chile and Sweden, though many of these started from a higher base.
EDIT: Unless you are talking about the One Child Policy, which I would agree is very non-neoliberal, and is a major policy.
I think his point was related to development via protection, etc., that was then loosened somewhat. But not sure.
The ‘freedom to trade internationally’ composite, which is basically not-being-protectionist, saw one of the largest improvements of any of their scores over this time. They are still protectionist relative to many richer countries, like the JV requirements. But they are dramatically less protectionist than they used to be, and this change coincided with / preceded their dramatic growth.