Rule of the Law Fundamental in a Good Market
Economy
Seminar held by the Comparative Studies editorial office
By Bi Jiao
The rule of the law, not the rule by the law, is fundamental in
achieving a limited, effective government and a good market economy,
as leading Chinese economists, researchers on law and politics agreed
on a seminar held early this month.
The seminar, themed “Government and the Rule of Law”, was hosted
by the editorial office of the Comparative Studies book series.
Seven of the series, which followed cutting edge researches on economics,
politics and law, have been published by the publishing house of
the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC)
since last July.
On the seminar Yingyi Qian, professor with the Department of Economics,
University of California, Berkeley, gave a speech and claimed the
economists stressing the law is a natural development of the economics
discipline, after they have promoted the building of the market
economy and the reform on property rights of enterprises in China
in the past two decades.
Qian made a distinction between “the rule of law” and “the rule
by law” in his paper published earlier on the Comparative Studies.
In the former the law functions to restrict the government and its
regulation on the economy, while in the latter it is just an instrument
used by the government.
He said the rule of law is among the three ways to restrict a government,
the other two being the civil society and democracy. He claimed
the rule of law in a society could be promoted by the interior benefits
of the economic man and the government, the pressure from the exterior
environment such as the World Trade Organization regulations, and
the power of the knowledge.
Qian’s speech triggered debates on how to achieve the rule of law
in the Chinese society. Mao Yushi, economist with the Unirule Institute
of Economics, said privileges are the major enemies of the rule
of law, while Ding Ningning, researcher with the Development Research
Center of the State Council, stressed comprise and credit in a society.
Those who gave their opinions included Rong Jingben, researcher
with the China Central Translation Bureau, Gao Xiqing, vice-chairman
of the board of governors, China National Social Securities Fund,
and Xia Yeliang, professor with the College of Economics, Peking
University.
To illustrate the theme of the seminar, Zhang Chunlin, senior expert
with the World Bank Office, Beijing, was invited to speak on the
positioning of the functions of the State Asset Supervision and
Administration Commission of the State Council and on the latest
developments of the reform on state-owned enterprises.
Lu Lei with the research bureau of the People’s Bank of China was
also invited to introduce the bank’s research on the Financial Corruption
Index. Gao Shiji, deputy head of the Economic System and Administration
Research Institute, spoke on the seminar on the current roles of
the government supervision in the electric and telecommunications
industries, while Zhou Hanhua, researcher with the Institute of
Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, introduced the functions
of the legal circle in establishing the rule of law in the Chinese
society.
Presided by Lu Mai, secretary general of the China Development Foundation,
the seminar was an attempt of the Brown Bag Lunch (BBL) seminar
formula in the country. Sources with the Comparative Studies editorial
office said more of such seminars on economics are to be held.
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